Locate Technologies unfazed by crypto plunge ahead of NZX listing
Wednesday, 3 December 2025
New Zealand’s first bitcoin treasury firm, Australian logistics management company Locate Technologies, is unfazed by the plunge in value of the cryptocurrency ahead of listing on the NZX this morning
Bitcoin has slumped this week and is down about 33% since hitting a record US$126,210 (NZ$220,425) on October 6, according to crypto trading platform Coinbase.
When it lists on the NZX today, NSW-based Locate Technologies, a logistics management company, will become the country’s first bitcoin treasury firm, which means it holds bitcoin as a reserve asset on its balance sheet, instead of traditional cash or bonds.
Locate holds 12.3 bitcoin on its balance sheet with a value of $1.86 million, instead of traditional cash or bonds. The bonds were worth $2.5m at the start of last month.
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The logistics management firm decided to make the unusual leap to the NZX - usually, companies are more inclined to go the other way - because the Australian exchange prevents companies from holding more than 50% of assets in cash or in a form readily convertible to cash. The NZX has no such rule.
Chief executive Steve Orenstein said the short term ups and downs of bitcoin were a feature of cryptocurrency as it evolved, and it was an opportunity to buy more at a discounted price.
The value of bitcoin fell 30% in March. It rallied after that and had now come back down to the same price it was nine months ago, he said.
“Anyone that's held bitcoin over a four-year period has actually never lost money,” he said. “You never want to be owning bitcoin for a short-term period, because it is a volatile asset.”
At an investors’ briefing last month, Orenstein said it was the best time for a business to be buying bitcoin, with much of the risk having been removed since the cryptocurrency was launched.
Companies that enable investors to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, as well as the growing number of companies that have made investing in bitcoin their main business focus, were hammered in Monday's sell-off.
Coinbase Global fell 5.4% and online trading platform Robinhood Markets lost 4.4%. Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms dropped 2.8%.
Analysts pointed to a number of factors that have led to the sell-off in crypto investments, including a broad risk-off sentiment that had gripped markets over the past three months, sending investors toward safer havens such as bonds and gold.
American bitcoin, in which US President Donald Trump's sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr hold a stake, fell 8.1% and was down more than 41% since September 30.