Dell Technologies doesn’t look like it ended up putting any Bitcoin on its balance sheet in the second quarter of the year, despite the CEO’s recent cryptic crypto-themed posts.
In the Aug. 29 filing, the company revealed strong earnings based on growing AI demand, though it did not mention Bitcoin in its earnings call or results filing.
Speculation was rife the tech giant might have been considering buying some Bitcoin after CEO Michael Dell gave the very distinct impression he was bullish on crypto in a series of posts on social media.
In a June 21 post on X, Dell said, “Scarcity creates value,” a phrase often associated with Bitcoin because of the hard supply cap of 21 million.
He only added fuel to the fires of speculation after reposting the reply from vocal advocate and CEO of MicroStrategy Michael Saylor, “Bitcoin is Digital Scarcity,” and then plugged an account with a cookie monster image eating Bitcoin.
Dell also held a poll on June 29 asking users what was more important: AI, Bitcoin, Love and relationships, or none of the above. Bitcoin won with 43% of the vote.
His last Bitcoin-related post came on July 16, when he commented, “fascinating Bitcoin,” on an interview with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, explaining he was no longer skeptical of Bitcoin after studying it.
However, Dell’s results filing shows no signs that the company purchased Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies.
Typically, companies disclose when they buy or hold digital assets. Tesla’s involvement with Bitcoin was revealed through its financial filings in quarter one of 2021 when it purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin.
MicroStrategy, Metaplanet and Semler Scientific have also disclosed the size and scope of their Bitcoin holdings in earnings filings.
Only a few companies have made Bitcoin part of their treasury strategies. Leading the pack is Saylors MicroStrategy, which has 226,500 Bitcoin in a stash worth $13.4 billion, according to the company’s portfolio tracker.
Dell Technologies’ Q2 earnings beat estimates thanks to AI
The company’s total revenue was $25 billion, up 9% compared to last year, with record servers and networking revenue of $7.7 billion, up 80% compared to last year.
Analysts were predicting $24 billion in revenue. Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and chief operating officer of Dell, said AI was a key driving force behind the company’s higher earnings.
“Our AI momentum accelerated in Q2, and we’ve seen an increase in the number of enterprise customers buying AI solutions each quarter,” Clarke said.
“AI-optimized server demand was $3.2 billion, up 23% sequentially, and $5.8 billion year to date,” he added.
