# Is the AI Altcoin Track About to See a MicroStrategy?

*Public Companies Investing in Altcoins: A High-Risk, High-Reward Game*

By [Scarlett](https://paragraph.com/@-scarlett) · 2025-06-15

ai

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**Questioning MicroStrategy, Understanding MicroStrategy, Becoming MicroStrategy**

Since MicroStrategy first incorporated Bitcoin (BTC) into its asset reserves in 2020, an increasing number of U.S. publicly traded companies and global enterprises have followed suit, making holding cryptocurrency a noticeable trend of stock-crypto convergence.

As of 2025, the number of companies holding crypto assets has surged from single digits to dozens.

However, this trend of corporate cryptocurrency holdings has diversified into several distinct streams:

Bitcoin, with its strongest consensus, remains the safest choice; Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) have also attracted many followers due to their widely recognized foundations.

Now, this trend of corporate coin purchases has even extended to the smaller-market-cap altcoin space, such as [Fetch.ai](http://Fetch.ai)’s $FET and Bittensor’s $TAO in the AI sector.

Looking back, ETH once fell by about 26.7% in a single day in June 2022, and SOL dropped by 43% in November 2022 due to the FTX bankruptcy. The fragility of AI coins is even more evident— for example, the release of DeepSeek’s open-source AI model once triggered a collective retreat of on-chain AI Agent tokens. The more valuable FET and TAO have volatility rates of about 15% and 18% respectively over the past 30 days.

Is it feasible for publicly traded companies to allocate these more volatile altcoins?

**Who is Laying Out for AI Coins?**

To answer this question, let's examine which companies have already laid out these AI tokens and the strategies and risks behind them.

**Interactive Strength (TRNR): Buying FET, a Leap Forward in Fitness + AI**

Interactive Strength is a Nasdaq-listed company that mainly sells professional fitness equipment and related digital fitness services, with two brands under its wing: CLMBR and FORME.

To put it simply, it sells hardware devices such as fitness mirrors and climbing machines, supplemented by fitness courses and digital platforms.

The latest data shows that the company has a market value of about $8.4 million.

On June 11, the company announced plans to invest $500 million in $FET tokens as a crypto strategic reserve, which it plans to use to support AI-driven fitness products.

The company's CEO, Ward, said: "Choosing FET over more widely held assets like Bitcoin reflects the company's plan to incorporate [Fetch.ai](http://Fetch.ai)'s technology into its product offerings."

Currently, Interactive Strength has raised $55 million in start-up funds from ATW Partners and DWF Labs.

The source of this funding is what is called a "securities purchase agreement," which essentially means the company sold stocks to the above investors in exchange for cash, while the purchased FET tokens are custodied by BitGo, a professional custody institution; additionally, the transaction method chose to directly purchase FET from the market rather than over-the-counter (OTC) trading.

ATW Partners is a private equity giant, and DWF Labs is a seasoned market maker in the crypto circle. Why are they willing to pay?

The answer may lie in the bundling of interests.

ATW is attracted by TRNR's fitness + AI story, and DWF also has a need to market $FET.

In September 2024, DWF Labs received 10 million FET from [Fetch.ai](http://Fetch.ai), then deposited these FET into the exchange and marketed FET.

After all, if the full $500 million is in place, it can buy about 6.41 million $FET (calculated at the current price of $0.78 per token), and buying directly on the market may have a positive impact on the price in the short term.

The market was quite receptive to the news.

On the 11th, TRNR's stock price rose by 15%, and $FET also rose by 7%, but it has since fallen back somewhat.

However, like some companies that previously bought ETH, the company's total market value is only $8.4 million, and it is not easy to raise $500 million to buy FET. It needs to gradually raise the stock price. If the market cools down or the $FET ecosystem is not promising, this money may be wasted.

In the short term, this move seems like a gamble; in the long term, success or failure may depend on whether there is room for AI fitness business to land.

**Synaptogenix (SNPX): Buying TAO, a Biotech Company Turnaround with Big Names**

Synaptogenix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing products based on bryostatin-1, mainly for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. The company has a market value of only $5 million.

On June 9, the company announced an initial investment of $10 million to purchase Bittensor's $TAO tokens, planning to gradually increase the purchase amount to $100 million.

As for the funds, the initial source is the company's existing cash reserves, and in the future, it plans to supplement with a $550 million Series D preferred stock private placement. Similar to MicroStrategy's approach, holders initially hold preferred stocks (with fixed dividends), which can be converted into common stocks under certain conditions, such as when the stock price reaches an agreed price. SNPX uses this to attract institutional funds (hedge funds or family offices).

Behind this coin purchase transaction is the well-known figure in the investment circle, James Altucher.

James is a widely followed entrepreneur, investor, and best-selling author who has founded or invested in more than 20 companies across technology, finance, and media; he has also been a hedge fund manager and participated in the early investments of many start-ups.

As early as when Bitcoin was not widely accepted, James publicly promoted the potential of blockchain technology and became an early supporter in this field. In the 2017 crypto boom, he was called the "Bitcoin Prophet" due to his extensive online advertising.

In SNPX's business, he is responsible for formulating and implementing the $TAO investment strategy. Specifically, he led the token purchase plan, including choosing to buy in stages to optimize costs, screening Bittensor subnets (such as Subnet 1, focusing on machine learning tasks) for staking to pursue more returns.

Recently, he has also been constantly sharing the logic of operating SNPX's purchase of TAO on X, and frankly said that buying SNPX's stock is equivalent to buying TAO at half price.

The addition of big names is key to pulling private equity funds and attracting institutional investors' attention to SNPX, a pharmaceutical company's transformation.

Considering the company's motivation, this transformation is motivated by the bottleneck in the biopharmaceutical business. The clinical data of bryostatin therapy did not meet expectations, the FDA approval prospects are unclear, and the company's stock price has been stagnant for a long time.

SNPX hopes to achieve asset appreciation through holding $TAO and staking rewards, and it even plans to rename the company and stock ticker to strengthen its AI token positioning.

After the news was made public on the 9th, SNPX's stock price once rose by 40%, reflecting the market's short-term optimism about the transformation.

However, the initial investment of $10 million has exceeded the company's market value by two times. If the price of $TAO falls below $300, the asset value may shrink by more than 25%, and the financial risk is significant.

Whether the $550 million private placement can be successful largely depends on James Altucher's appeal and market sentiment. If the funds are not in place, the transformation plan may be interrupted. The staking rewards of $TAO and the 18% volatility of the $TAO token over 30 days are not stable in comparison.

This is clearly a high-risk, high-reward turnaround battle.

**Oblong (OBLG): Buying TAO, a Prudent Layout in the IT Field**

Oblong, Inc. (Nasdaq: OBLG) is a technology service provider focusing on IT solutions and video collaboration technology. Its core product, Mezzanine, is a platform that supports multi-user, multi-device visual collaboration and is widely used in corporate meetings and remote collaboration. The company has a market value of about $5.3 million.

On June 6, Oblong announced that it had raised $7.5 million through a private placement to purchase Bittensor's $TAO tokens and participate in its Subnet 0 staking plan.

After the announcement, Oblong's stock price once rose by 12%, but as of the time of this writing, it has fallen back to $4.04.

This private placement involves the sale of approximately 1.98 million shares of common stock or equivalent securities, priced at $3.77 per share, below the current market price. This also means that the company is selling its stocks at a certain discount to attract investors.

This level of funding, calculated at the current price, can buy about 1890 $TAO tokens, which is not a large number.

However, you can regard this purchase of TAO as a strategic transformation from traditional IT business to the AI and digital asset field.

The video conferencing solution is a very competitive field. Although the company's Mezzanine platform has a certain market in the video collaboration field, since 2023, its revenue growth has slowed by about 5%, mainly due to the impact of competitive software such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

The company's CEO, Peter Holst, said that the intersection of AI and blockchain is the key to future innovation, and $TAO is seen as a potential asset for crypto AI infrastructure, similar to the early institutional adoption stage of Bitcoin.

At the same time, the company plans to achieve asset appreciation through holding $TAO and staking rewards, while exploring the development of software tools based on Bittensor, such as AI-driven meeting assistant functions.

However, Subnet 0 in the TAO subnet mainly focuses on text prompt tasks (such as natural language processing) and other AI directions. It is a bit of a stretch to say that Oblong's choice of this subnet for staking is directly related to its video conferencing business. It is more about staking rewards and making a statement.

This layout is more of a strategic trial, testing the long-term potential of AI tokens.

**Risk and Return Coexist**

The trend of corporate coin holdings has expanded from a single asset to a diversified selection.

However, apart from BTC, the volatility of altcoins is significantly higher than that of BTC. Take TRNR as an example, its $8.4 million market value plans to raise $500 million in funding. If the price of FET falls sharply, high-leverage funding to buy coins is itself a financially stressful choice.

Regulatory risks should also not be ignored. The biggest consideration for publicly traded companies should be compliance. The SEC once classified SOL as a security, and the compliance of AI tokens is still unclear. If regulations tighten, will coin-holding companies face fines or liquidation?

However, as long as it is not explicitly prohibited by law, capital always seeks profit. In the current window period, companies are competing to imitate crypto reserve strategies, perhaps already having their own plans:

After all, these are small-cap companies, taking advantage of the wave of the capital market gradually embracing crypto assets to take a gamble on more volatile altcoins. Moreover, the AI narrative is enduring. If it succeeds, the return on investment (ROI) will naturally be high.

Overall, the allocation of altcoins by publicly traded companies is more like a high-risk, high-reward gamble.

For small-cap companies, this is a capital game betting on the future, and success or failure will depend on market sentiment, the continuity of the narrative, and the actual ability to land.

When the altcoin bull market goes stock-like, companies and investors should always remember:

Risk is the nature of high-volatility assets, and return is the reward for tightly grasping the narrative and timing.

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*Originally published on [Scarlett](https://paragraph.com/@-scarlett/is-the-ai-altcoin-track-about-to-see-a-microstrategy)*
