The Ethereum Treasury Company BTCS will inaugurate a new concept by paying a dividend in ETH to its shareholders. How will this work?
BTCS will pay a dividend in Ethereum (ETH)
On Monday, Ethereum Treasury Company BTCS made an unprecedented announcement, promising a dividend in ETH for its shareholders. For the occasion, the company is using the neologism “bividend,” a contraction of ‘blockchain’ and “dividend”:
BTCS announced today that it will pay shareholders a one-time blockchain-based dividend, or “Bividend,” of $0.05 per share in Ethereum (ETH). In addition, we are offering a one-time loyalty payment in Ethereum of $0.35 per share to shareholders who register their shares with our transfer agent and hold them until January 26, 2026.”
As the company implicitly suggests in its press release, the manner in which the shares are held is important for eligibility for the $0.35 per share loyalty payment. A glance at the FAQ confirms that holding shares through traditional brokers excludes eligibility for this particular portion of the dividend:
A registered shareholder is a shareholder who holds their shares with the company’s transfer agent, not with a brokerage firm. If you are a BTCS shareholder and hold your shares with a brokerage firm (Robinhood, Etrade, Charles Schwab, etc.), you are a beneficial owner and not a registered shareholder.
In France, it is more customary to refer to “bearer shares” when shares in a company are held through an intermediary, via an ordinary securities account (CTO) or a share savings plan (PEA), for example. In this case, you must be registered directly in the BTCS registers through its transfer agent, Equity Stock Transfer LLC. If all conditions are met, an initial dividend of $0.05 per share will be paid no later than October 17 to an Ethereum address previously provided for all shareholders registered before September 26. With regard to the loyalty payment, shareholders must maintain their position until at least January 26 for the dividend of $0.35 per share to be paid no later than February 6. BTCS acknowledges that this loyalty dividend serves to “limit market manipulation through abusive short selling” by mechanically reducing the number of shares available for short selling. As of today, BTCS shares are trading at $4.23 per share, down 50% from their annual high:
Interestingly, the company now holds 70,140 ETH valued at $293.5 million, which is more than the company’s market capitalization of $203.26 million. Despite the potentially lucrative arbitrage opportunity, however, caution should be exercised in light of market sentiment.
