Semler Scientific Adds $88 Million to Its Bitcoin Treasury

Medical tech firm Semler Scientific has converted part of its healthcare investment portfolio into Bitcoin, purchasing 871 BTC for $88.5 million as it attempts to deepen its crypto strategy.

The Nasdaq-listed company paid an average of $101,616 per BTC in its latest buying spree between January and early February, bringing its total holdings to 3,192 BTC, Semler said Tuesday in a statement.

At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price has sunk below $99,000, having lost 1.4% in the past day, according to CoinGecko data. But in the big picture, multinational bank Standard Chartered today laid out its vision for how Bitcoin could climb as high as $500,000 before U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office.

The healthcare firm funded its BTC purchases through a combination of convertible notes. These offerings were “substantially oversubscribed with investor demand,” according to Eric Semler, the company’s chairman.

This latest acquisition was by selling part of its stake in Monarch Medical Technologies, marking Semler Scientific’s aggressive pivot from traditional investments to crypto.

The company’s transition to crypto marks a departure from its core business developing diagnostic tools for chronic diseases, particularly its FDA-cleared QuantaFlo test for cardiovascular conditions.

This trend, spearheaded by MicroStrategy, has seen companies like Metaplanet and Semler Scientific following suit.

“More publicly traded companies are likely to follow suit in the light of Bitcoins transparency,” Fraser Edwards, CEO of payment and trust infrastructure firm Cheqd, told Decrypt. “Microstrategy (MSTR) pioneered this strategy, marking a “zero-to-one” moment.”

Edwards notes that by leveraging BTC, MicroStrategy was able to outpace even Bitcoin’s own growth, with its success making “private sector adoption increasingly desirable.”

Semler Scientific now ranks 11th among public companies holding Bitcoin, according to data from Bitcoin Treasuries.

Bitcoin Yield

To track its Bitcoin strategy’s success, Semler introduced an unusual performance metric called “BTC Yield.” It measures Bitcoin holdings against potential share dilution. The company reported a 152.2% yield since launching its Bitcoin treasury program in July 2024.

The company’s Bitcoin holdings grew dramatically from 877 BTC in June 2024 to 3,192 BTC with this recent purchase, nearly quadrupling in just seven months.

While this was going on, the company’s share structure gradually became more complex, with outstanding basic shares seeing an increase from about 7 million to 9.6 million shares.

However, the metric comes with some caveats. Unlike traditional financial yields, it doesn’t reflect operational performance or generate income.

Semler discussed this in detailed disclaimers accompanying its announcement.

Beyond BTC, Semler Scientific’s common stock “is informed by numerous factors,” the company said, noting that its shares could trade at either a premium or at a discount to its Bitcoin value.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.