Semler Scientific, a publicly traded US company, has made headlines by announcing its commitment to acquiring Bitcoin as its "primary treasury reserve asset." The company recently purchased 248 Bitcoins for $17 million, including all fees and expenses, averaging $68,825 per coin. As of Friday, Bitcoin trades for $71,200 per coin, putting Semler Scientific up a modest $1 million on its investment.

This recent purchase brings the total Bitcoin on Semler's balance sheet up to 828 BTC, acquired for $57 million in aggregate. The company's CEO, Doug Murphy-Chutorian, stated, "Semler remains focused on our two strategies of expanding our healthcare business and acquiring and holding bitcoin."

Semler Scientific's move to invest in Bitcoin is reminiscent of MicroStrategy's (MSTR) strategy, with the company becoming the second publicly traded US company to vocally follow in MSTR's footsteps. The announcement of Semler's first purchase resulted in a 33% surge in SMLR stock, and another 9% spike on Friday following the announcement of the additional BTC acquisition.

Semler's market cap is now $223 million, almost four times the value of the BTC on its balance sheet. The company's chairman, Eric Semler, believes that Bitcoin "has the potential to generate outsize returns as it gains increasing acceptance as digital gold." Compared to gold, Semler said Bitcoin has "digital" and architectural resilience" that make it "preferable to gold," the latter of which has a market cap still ten times Bitcoin's size.

In a Thursday SEC filing, Semler revealed plans to execute a $150 million debt securities sale, with the proceeds to be used for "general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of bitcoin." This move again mimics MicroStrategy's strategy of issuing billions of dollars of convertible notes with the sole purpose of acquiring more BTC. "Bitcoin is a compelling investment and can serve as a reliable store of value," added the company's CEO, emphasizing their commitment to pursuing their strategy of purchasing bitcoins with cash.