This year, the National Center for Public Policy Studies (NCPPR) – a DC-based group known for asking companies such as Microsoft and Amazon to adopt Bitcoin – asked McDonald’s to add Bitcoin to the Ministry of Finance during a 2025 shareholder meeting set for next month.
“It appears McDonald’s had a long time ago that many other companies still have. The value of a company, especially in the age of inflation, is measured not only by the profitability of key businesses, but also by the wise things to invest their assets and protect profits from decline,” NCPPR said.
NCPPR added that companies like MicroStrategy, now known as Strategy, have experienced significant growth since adding Bitcoin to their balance sheet, claiming that over the past 60 months the strategy stock price has increased by 2,360% over McDonald’s.
However, McDonald’s attorneys contacted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to ensure that proposals could be excluded from the annual shareholders’ meeting without causing enforcement action. McDonald’s lawyers argued that the Bitcoin proposal falls into an investment strategy that is best suited to normal business operations or board decisions rather than shareholders.
The SEC agreed. “It seems there is some basis for your view that the company may rule out proposals,” the SEC said in late March. “In our view, this proposal relates to the company’s normal business operations. Therefore, if the company omits the proposal, we do not recommend enforcement action to the committee.”
Last December, NCPPR also pursued a similar initiative asking e-commerce juggernaut Amazon to allocate 5% of its portfolio to Bitcoin. In that case, the group argued that “Bitcoin is a currently unstable asset, but Amazon stocks have been around occasionally throughout its history, so companies are responsible for maximizing shareholder value in the short term and short term.”
Overall, NCPPR’s shareholder activity to promote Bitcoin has gained limited traction. Last December, Microsoft shareholders rejected a similar proposal from NCPPR to invest in Bitcoin. Microsoft Board cites cryptocurrency volatility as its main deterrent, highlighting the importance of “stable, predictable investments to ensure liquidity and operational funding.”