Zhibao Technology, a Shanghai-based insurance-technology firm listed on Nasdaq under the ticker ZBAO, closed a $154.7 million private placement on August 17 that was paid entirely in Bitcoin rather than cash, adding 2,380 BTC directly to the company's treasury. The structure is unusual even by the standards of the corporate Bitcoin treasury trend: instead of raising cash and then buying Bitcoin on the open market, as Strategy and most other treasury companies have done, Zhibao sold 442 million units to non-US investors who paid in Bitcoin priced at $65,000 per coin, pegged to the market rate from July 30.
Director Botao Ma, who is staying on the board to provide continuity, called the deal "one of the most transformational moments" in the company's decade-long history.
A Smaller Deal Than First Announced
The final terms represent a significant scale-down from Zhibao's original plan, which called for 3,500 BTC and $220 million when the definitive securities purchase agreement was first disclosed in an SEC filing. That the company still closed a deal roughly 30% smaller than initially proposed suggests some investor pullback during the process, even as the transaction went through.
Related: Strategy CEO Calls MSCI's Bitcoin Treasury Exclusion Plan 'Ill-Advised'
A Near-Complete Leadership Turnover
The financing came bundled with sweeping governance changes: four incumbent directors are resigning alongside the company's current CEO and CFO, leaving Botao Ma as one of the only holdovers from the prior leadership team. That combination — a foreign-investor group effectively buying its way onto the board through a Bitcoin-denominated placement while replacing existing management — sets Zhibao's transition apart from the more gradual pivots other companies have made toward Bitcoin treasury strategies.
Part of a Widening Trend
Zhibao's move extends the corporate Bitcoin treasury playbook popularized by Strategy to another Nasdaq-listed Chinese company, joining firms like Metaplanet in adopting the model outside the US. The company said it plans to use the proceeds for general business expenses, business expansion, research and development, and AI projects, alongside advancing its new digital asset reserve strategy — suggesting the Bitcoin holdings are meant to sit alongside, rather than replace, its existing insurance-technology operations.
