TL;DR
- BTCS announced a one-time dividend in Ethereum: $0.05 per share as a “Bividend” and $0.35 per share as a loyalty payment.
- The measure aims to reduce the liquidity available for short-selling and protect long-term shareholders from pressure by short sellers.
- Shares have risen nearly 70% this year, with a 7.3% short interest. The company combines ETH treasury holdings with services such as Builder+, NodeOps, and ChainQ.
BTCS announced a one-time dividend in Ethereum, a rare move among publicly traded companies. The firm will pay a “Bividend” of $0.05 per share and a loyalty payment of $0.35 per share, both in ETH. The loyalty payment is conditional on shareholders transferring their shares to the company’s transfer agent and keeping them there for at least 120 days.
Holding shares in book-entry form limits the number of shares available for short-selling. BTCS explained that this step reduces the ability to lend shares for short-selling purposes. Charles Allen, CEO of BTCS, stated that the initiative rewards long-term shareholders and forces short sellers to either cover or close existing positions, protecting the share price from speculative pressures.
The stock has gained nearly 70% so far this year, trading around $4.40, supported by interest in companies holding Ethereum reserves. Even so, the short interest as a percentage of the float stands at 7.3%, reflecting some bearish sentiment among institutional and retail investors. For context, stocks with more than 20% short interest are considered highly shorted.
BTCS: A Pioneer in Crypto Dividends
BTCS is not new to using crypto as shareholder rewards. In 2022, the company announced a dividend payable in bitcoin or cash, and its shares rose more than 40% following the announcement. The firm is part of a group of blockchain companies that have raised capital through equity and debt offerings to acquire Ethereum.
In the last six months, BTCS reported a net loss of $13.39 million. The company attributed this to investments in its Builder+ service, $5.74 million in depreciation, and $4.16 million in realized losses from the sale of non-Ethereum crypto assets. In addition to its ETH treasury, BTCS operates revenue-generating services such as Builder+ block-builder, the NodeOps validator solution, and the ChainQ analytics platform.
Founded in 2014, BTCS is one of the oldest publicly traded blockchain companies in the United States. With the ETH dividend, the firm aims to retain long-term investors and limit the liquidity available to those betting against its stock
