Companies around the world are on a bitcoin buying spree, as executives — often in industries that have nothing to do with cryptocurrency — mimic a stockpiling strategy that has produced explosive share price growth.

Over the past year, the number of bitcoin held by companies has jumped nearly 170 per cent. A total of about 130 listed firms hold a combined $87bn of bitcoin, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net, equivalent to about 3.2 per cent of all the bitcoins that will ever exist.

They are following a trail blazed by billionaire Michael Saylor, who made software company MicroStrategy — now known as Strategy — a $100bn company by turning it into a bitcoin-buying vehicle whose market capitalisation is 1.6 times the value of the crypto it holds.