We're generating cash and yield for investors, and that's what matters.
Méliuz posted record Q1 revenues of R$118.2M (+18% YoY) and adjusted Ebitda of R$30.1M (+74% YoY), driven by AI integration accelerating business development. Bitcoin accounting loss of R$76M reflects short-term crypto volatility; CEO maintains conviction in BTC strategy as core fintech operations generate sufficient cash for additional Bitcoin purchases.
- R$76 million Bitcoin accounting loss in Q1 2026, resulting in R$60.1 million net loss
- Record Q1 revenues of R$118.2 million (+18% YoY); adjusted Ebitda of R$30.1 million (+74% YoY)
- Share buyback program delivered 12.42% annualized Bitcoin Yield
- R$30 million in operating cash generated over previous six months
- Gabriel Loures became CEO in November 2024
Méliuz CEO Gabriel Loures defends the company's Bitcoin treasury strategy despite a R$76M accounting loss in Q1 2026, emphasizing strong operational cash generation and a 12.42% annualized Bitcoin Yield from share buybacks.
Gabriel Loures took the helm of Méliuz in November 2024, and on Thursday night in May, the fintech company released its first-quarter results—a set of numbers that told two stories at once. The headline was solid: record revenues of R$118.2 million, up 18 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, with adjusted Ebitda climbing 74 percent to R$30.1 million. But underneath that strength sat a R$76 million accounting loss tied to Bitcoin holdings, which cascaded into a net loss of R$60.1 million for the quarter. For investors watching a company that had bet heavily on cryptocurrency reserves, the question was obvious: was this strategy working?
Loures didn't flinch. In an interview, he reframed the loss as a temporary mark-to-market fluctuation—the kind of thing that happens when you hold a volatile asset—while the real engine of the business hummed along beneath it. "We're generating cash and yield for investors, and that's what matters," he said. The distinction he was drawing was crucial: Méliuz is not a pure Bitcoin play. It's a fintech company that happens to hold Bitcoin. The core business—a shopping rewards platform, a cashback ecosystem, financial technology infrastructure—was accelerating, powered in large part by artificial intelligence tools that had doubled the speed at which the company could write code and ship features.
The strategy Loures was defending is called Bitcoin Yield, and it works like this: you take the cash your business generates, use it to buy more Bitcoin, and then you layer on additional returns through share buybacks. When you reduce the number of shares outstanding while holding the same amount of Bitcoin, each remaining share represents a larger slice of the Bitcoin pie. In the first quarter, Méliuz's buyback program delivered a 12.42 percent annualized Bitcoin Yield—a return that had nothing to do with Bitcoin's price movement and everything to do with operational discipline. Over the previous six months, the company had generated R$30 million in operating cash, a figure Loures cited as proof of the business's "cash-generating power."
What made this defense credible was the operational momentum. The Shopping Brasil segment, the company's largest revenue driver, had grown 31 percent year-over-year. The adjusted Ebitda of R$30.1 million in a single quarter put the company on pace to exceed R$100 million for the trailing twelve-month period—a milestone it had already crossed by quarter-end. Analysts at UBS BB had recently updated their models, projecting that Méliuz's core business would trade at an EV/Ebitda multiple of 1.3x, implying a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.7x for 2026 and 2027. The actual EV/Ebitda came in at 1.35x, almost exactly in line with expectations.
Loures acknowledged the volatility in Méliuz's stock price, which tends to move in lockstep with Bitcoin because Bitcoin is the only part of the business that trades in real time, visible to the market second by second. But he noted something interesting in the correlation: when Bitcoin falls, Méliuz stock tends to fall more slowly. When Bitcoin rises, Méliuz tends to rise faster. The reason, he explained, is that the company has a profitable operating business independent of cryptocurrency. "Bitcoin is the only part of our business that's visible in real time," he said. "Every second you see the price moving and the stock reflects that value. But if you chart the correlation with Bitcoin, CASH3 grows faster than the Bitcoin price and falls slower when the asset declines."
The R$76 million loss, in Loures's telling, was already partially reversing based on current market prices—a reminder that accounting losses on volatile assets can swing sharply in either direction. His message to shareholders was direct: conviction in Bitcoin remains unchanged despite short-term price fluctuations. The company would continue to generate cash operationally, continue to buy Bitcoin when it could, and continue to return value to shareholders through buybacks. The fintech engine was running hot, powered by AI, and that engine would keep feeding the Bitcoin strategy. For investors willing to look past the quarterly loss and see the operational machinery underneath, the story was one of a company that had found a way to benefit from cryptocurrency exposure without being entirely hostage to it.
Notable Quotes
When I'm growing, I can generate more cash to buy more Bitcoin. It's the operating result that will allow us to buy more BTC or more shares.— Gabriel Loures, CEO of Méliuz
Our conviction in the asset remains unchanged despite short-term fluctuations, which generated an impairment in Q1 2026 but will be partially reversed based on current market values.— Gabriel Loures, in shareholder communication
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a fintech company need to hold Bitcoin at all? Why not just focus on the core business and let investors buy Bitcoin themselves if they want it?
That's the right question. The answer is that Bitcoin Yield—the returns generated through buybacks and operational cash deployment—creates a compounding effect that a pure fintech business wouldn't have. You're essentially leveraging your cash generation to create an additional return stream. It's a treasury strategy, like how some companies hold gold or foreign currency reserves.
But the R$76 million loss in one quarter seems like a lot of volatility to absorb. How do you explain that to shareholders who just want predictable earnings?
You don't hide it. Loures put it right in the results. The loss is real in accounting terms, but it's a mark-to-market loss on an asset the company intends to hold long-term. It's the same reason a bank doesn't panic when bond prices fall—the loss is on paper until you sell. The key is that the operating business is generating enough cash that you're not forced to sell at the wrong time.
The AI acceleration seems almost like a separate story. How much of the growth is actually coming from that versus the Bitcoin strategy?
Almost entirely from the core business. The AI is what's driving the 18 percent revenue growth and the 74 percent Ebitda growth. Bitcoin is the treasury play—it's what you do with the cash after you've generated it. The AI is making the business more efficient, which means more cash to deploy. They're not competing; they're complementary.
So if Bitcoin crashed 50 percent tomorrow, what happens to Méliuz?
The stock would fall, probably more than Bitcoin itself because of the leverage effect Loures mentioned. But the business would keep generating cash. You'd have a bigger accounting loss. But the fintech operations—the shopping platform, the cashback ecosystem—those don't depend on Bitcoin's price. That's the insurance policy.
Is this strategy unique to Méliuz, or are other companies doing the same thing?
OranjeBTC is doing something similar—holding Bitcoin and using buybacks to generate yield. But Méliuz is different because it has a genuinely profitable operating business underneath. That's what makes the strategy defensible. You're not betting everything on Bitcoin appreciation; you're using a profitable business to fund a long-term Bitcoin accumulation plan.