Shanghai Insurer Zhibao Becomes China's Second-Largest Corporate Bitcoin Holder Overnight
A Shanghai-based insurance technology company just took Bitcoin onto its balance sheet in a country where Bitcoin is officially banned. Zhibao Technology, listed on Nasdaq under the ticker ZBAO, closed a $154.7 million financing round paid entirely in Bitcoin, and the timing says as much as the deal itself.
THE DEAL
Zhibao Technology has completed the PIPE financing for an aggregate of 442,000,000 PIPE Units at a purchase price of $0.35 per Unit, representing an aggregate purchase price of $154,700,000. The total purchase price was fully satisfied through the contribution by investors of 2,380 Bitcoin to the company's designated wallet account, based on a reference price of $65,000 per Bitcoin determined with reference to prevailing market prices as of July 30, 2026.
Each PIPE Unit consists of one Class A Ordinary Share and one warrant to purchase one Class A Ordinary Share at an exercise price of $0.35 per share, exercisable for two years from the closing date. At closing, the company delivered 395,678,152 units, with the remaining 46,321,848 units to be delivered following shareholder approval and no additional consideration required.
Director Botao Ma called it a milestone moment for the company. "The successful closing of this $154.7 million investment marks one of the most transformational moments in Zhibao's 10-year history, strengthening our financial foundation and significantly accelerating our future growth potential," Ma said.
According to Zhibao, proceeds will support general expenditure, business development, R&D including AI, and its Bitcoin-focused digital asset reserve strategy. That framing echoes what corporate Bitcoin adopters in the US said years ago before the treasury strategy became the headline in its own right.
A BITCOIN MOVE INSIDE A COUNTRY THAT BANS IT
China banned Bitcoin mining within its borders in 2021, a move that pushed a huge share of global hash rate out of the country almost overnight. The Simply Bitcoin hosts pointed out on the show that a meaningful chunk of that hash power has quietly drifted back to China since, and framed Zhibao's move as further evidence that Beijing's actual posture toward Bitcoin is looser than the official ban suggests. That claim about returning hash power was raised on the show and has not been independently verified here.
The deal did not come out of nowhere. Zhibao had originally discussed a much larger transaction. According to a press release from the Nasdaq-listed company, it had entered a non-binding term sheet with Joyertech and Information OPC for a proposed PIPE financing settled using approximately 3,500 Bitcoin instead of cash. The company ultimately closed a smaller version of that plan, still one of the more unusual corporate financings of the year.
What makes it notable is not just the size, it is who is doing it. Nothing moves through a Chinese public company without some tolerance from Beijing, at least according to the read the hosts gave on the show. A company adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet, even framed as a financing structure rather than a government directive, reads as a signal about where the state's tolerance currently sits.
WHERE ZHIBAO NOW SITS
Next Technology Holding currently holds 5,833 BTC, making it China's largest corporate Bitcoin holder. Zhibao's 2,380 BTC now puts it in second place among Chinese-listed companies, a rank the hosts pulled from bitcoin treasury tracking data on the show and one that shifts as other companies add to their own positions.
The structure itself is the more interesting part. Bitcoin arrived directly as consideration for the shares rather than through open-market purchases funded by cash. That puts a Bitcoin reserve on the balance sheet from day one, without the company ever having to source the coins itself.
WHAT COMES NEXT
Closing requirements call for the board to downsize to five seats, triggering the departure of four directors along with the CEO and CFO, with the incoming investor group appointing a replacement executive team. Current chairman and CEO Botao Ma will remain as a director. The company will also file a registration statement covering the resale of the shares and warrant shares within the coming weeks.
Zhibao is a small player next to Strategy's hundreds of thousands of coins. But a Chinese public company converting straight to a Bitcoin balance sheet, with board seats changing hands as part of the deal, is the kind of move that used to be unthinkable inside China's borders. Whether it stays a one-off or becomes a pattern is the thing actually worth watching from here.
This story comes from the Simply Bitcoin Live show. Watch the full episode.
