After selling every coin it owned, a public company is using Strategy’s STRC playbook to restart its $827M Bitcoin treasury plan

Genius Group, a Singapore-based education group, has cleared a legal obstacle to raising capital for its planned Bitcoin and artificial intelligence treasury expansion.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction that Genius said had restricted its ability to issue shares, raise capital, and purchase Bitcoin. The Aug. 31 order removes the injunction as applied to the company and sends the dispute back to the Southern District of New York.

The ruling comes days after Genius unveiled a five-year capital plan targeting an $827 million Bitcoin treasury and an $800 million AI portfolio, with total assets projected to reach $2 billion by fiscal 2031.

Chief Executive Roger James Hamilton said the company believes Bitcoin and AI are entering new growth cycles and intends to use permanent capital to expand exposure to both.

Preferred shares are expected to play a central role in that strategy.

Genius pointed to Michael Saylor's Strategy use of Bitcoin-backed preferred securities like STRC as a model for raising capital without relying solely on common-stock issuance. The market value of those securities now exceeds $13 billion, giving Genius a template for funding long-duration assets while limiting dilution to ordinary shareholders.

The company plans to issue $1.2 billion of this kind of securities. Its proceeds would be divided among Bitcoin purchases, AI investments and a cash reserve covering roughly 18 months of preferred dividends.

Hamilton said the structure is designed to expand both treasuries without issuing additional ordinary shares, with returns above the preferred dividend rate flowing through to net asset value for common shareholders.

The first raise, however, remains small relative to the ambition. At $12.5 million, it represents about 1.5% of the $827 million Bitcoin target before any proceeds are allocated to AI or the dividend reserve.

Genius reported $106.6 million in net assets and no third-party debt as of June 30. The final size, pricing and timing of the preferred financing remain subject to market conditions and board approval.

Bitcoin must be rebuilt while AI exposure already exists

Genius is pursuing its Bitcoin and AI ambitions from very different starting points, with one requiring a rebuild and the other already underway.

The company first adopted its Bitcoin treasury strategy in 2024, directing most of its reserves into the asset and building its reserves to a peak of 440 BTC.

However, that strategy later reversed as legal battles constrained its fundraising and share issuance ability. As a result, Genius sold down its Bitcoin holdings and exited the remainder in April, using the proceeds to repay $8.5 million of debt.

It now plans to restart Bitcoin purchases in the fourth quarter, but no new acquisition has yet been disclosed.

Meanwhile, its AI exposure is further along.

Genius launched its AGI Infinity Portfolio in May and made its first investment in June, giving the company indirect pre-IPO exposure to OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX, Anduril and Databricks.

The company has also outlined an initial $100 million AI deployment across pre-IPO funds, listed infrastructure companies and businesses expected to benefit indirectly from wider adoption of artificial intelligence.

That leaves Genius trying to rebuild a Bitcoin treasury it previously dismantled while simultaneously scaling an AI portfolio that already has exposure to some of the sector’s largest private companies.