Fig. 2

Publicly Traded Companies Investing in Cryptocurrencies. Note: This Figure shows the number of publicly traded companies adhering to cryptocurrencies over time. Such exposition is divided into investment throughout acquisitions (blue line) and acceptance as means of payment (orange line). The steeper slope, starting in early 2021, coincides with Tesla's announcement of investing USD 1.5 billion worth of bitcoin under the new policy of diversifying and maximizing returns on excess cash (the fraction of cash that is not required to maintain the company's operations).