Shares of Bitcoin miner IREN slid after the company awarded its co-CEOs a $700 million stock grant, a move that sparked investor concerns about dilution and governance. The grant is locked until 2033, the same year the founders' super-voting shares are set to expire.
The compensation package comes as IREN navigates a challenging environment for Bitcoin miners, with rising energy costs and post-halving revenue pressures. Critics argue the size of the grant may signal misaligned incentives, while the lock-up provision suggests the board is betting on long-term leadership stability.
Separately, a growing debate in the Bitcoin community focuses on a proposal to freeze the 1.1 million bitcoin attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has argued that the holdings should be immobilized before quantum computers become capable of stealing them. The idea has split experts, with some warning it would undermine Bitcoin's core principle of immutability.
Neither IREN nor the Bitcoin community has reached a consensus on the quantum threat or the stock grant's implications. IREN's stock price dropped in the wake of the announcement, reflecting investor unease about the hefty compensation at a time of industry-wide margin compression.