Zak Mir talks to Paul Mathieson, CEO of Amazing AI

Zak's Traders Cafe sat down with Paul Mathieson, CEO of Amazing AI, to unpack a fresh take on corporate crypto exposure — a strategy Paul describes not just as "Bitcoin treasury 2.0" but as crypto treasury 3.0.

After a turbulent few months for London-listed companies that rushed to add Bitcoin to their balance sheets, Paul and I discussed why the old model is breaking down and how his team plans to approach things differently: more sophisticated, more diversified, and better protected.

Why the Bitcoin Treasury 1.0 model is fading

Earlier this year many companies followed a simple playbook: raise equity, buy Bitcoin, and hold it on the balance sheet. That headline-friendly approach produced big share price moves in May–July, but many of those gains have since evaporated — some names are down as much as 80% from their peaks. Investors and markets reacted; hype cooled. As Paul put it, the straightforward buy-and-hold crypto treasury is "pretty simple" and increasingly seen as outdated.

The problem with buy-and-hold

• Heavy dilution: companies raising repeatedly to buy more crypto.
• Binary exposure: full directional risk to a single asset like Bitcoin.
• Market expectation vs operational reality: investors began pricing in the flaws once the euphoria passed.

Introducing Crypto Treasury 3.0: a different philosophy

Paul argues Amazing AI is moving beyond the one-dimensional treasury model by combining derivatives expertise, diversification across crypto assets, active risk management, and a profitable underlying business to fund the strategy. As Paul told me:

"I don't think it's just crypto treasury 2.0. I think it's actually 3.0. We are going beyond the basic to diversify... and more importantly managing the exposure, not just sitting there." — Paul Mathieson

Key pillars of the approach:

• Derivatives-based exposure: using long-dated options and futures to gain leveraged crypto exposure while defining downside risk.
• Diversification: exposure spread across multiple crypto assets rather than a single-asset bet.
• Active management: protective hedges and re-protection on the way up to lock in gains.
• Revenue backing: a core U.S. lending business generating strong cash flows to fund option premiums and operations.
• Opportunistic M&A: potential acquisitions of failed "crypto 1.0" players to consolidate and repurpose assets.

How the derivatives strategy works — plain English

Paul drew on decades of funds management and investment banking experience to adopt option structures that can deliver asymmetric returns. The approach is not simply selling covered calls (income-focused), but more like a strangle strategy combined with targeted protection.

• Strangle-like positions: buying combinations of calls and puts to profit from large moves either up or down. The structure benefits from volatility and large directional moves.
• Defined downside: losses are limited to the premiums paid for options, rather than the full exposure of owning the underlying crypto outright.
• Leverage potential: relatively small cash outlay on options can create very large notional exposure (Paul discussed scenarios of up to 100x notional exposure in upside cases), while premium cost caps the downside.

Paul emphasised that the firm is comfortable paying option premiums because Amazing AI has a core business able to generate predictable revenue. That changes the math: instead of raising equity constantly to buy more crypto, small capital raises can create sizable market exposure via derivatives.

Backtest results and credibility

Paul shared that he backtested his strategy over two decades and, in his words, it "never lost money" and averaged around 500% returns historically, with larger gains on upside moves. He also said the approach underpins the holdings of long-term shareholders in the company today.

While past performance and backtests are not guarantees, the claim signals the firm has applied a rigorous, experience-led framework rather than relying on speculation alone.

Differences from covered-call or simple buy-and-hold strategies

When I asked whether the approach is similar to covered-call income strategies, Paul was clear: it's materially different. Covered calls generate income by selling upside, moderating upside participation in exchange for premiums. Amazing AI’s method is designed to benefit from significant directional moves while protecting capital via paid protection.

• Covered call = sell upside to earn premium, capped upside.