[NEW YORK] Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin juggernaut is at it again, buying near the highs with the kind of capital-markets firepower no other crypto firm can match.
Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, disclosed on Monday (Aug 4) that it bought US$2.46 billion of Bitcoin in the past week, its third-largest purchase by US dollar value since it began accumulating the cryptocurrency five years ago.
The company acquired 21,021 tokens between Jul 28 and Aug 3, pushing its total holdings to 628,791 Bitcoin, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This takes the value of the company’s Bitcoin holdings to more than US$71 billion at current prices.
Fuelled by a steady stream of stock offerings and debt deals, Saylor has transformed his enterprise software company into the dominant corporate buyer of Bitcoin. Its latest acquisition came at an average price of US$117,526 per token, the second-highest price Strategy has ever paid, just behind the US$118,940 average last month, according to company data.
The move underscores how Saylor has turned public-company finance into a specialised vehicle to amass Bitcoin, and how Strategy keeps buying even as prices hover near record levels. Strategy is by far the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, according to a tally by BitcoinTreasuries.net, and has spurred a new industry of public companies following a so-called treasury strategy dedicated to buying and holding cryptocurrencies.
To fund the purchases, Saylor has employed a combination of common and preferred share sales, as well as debt. The company offers four different kinds of securities to investors, launching its latest preferred stock offering, dubbed Stretch, in late July. Strategy reported an unrealised gain of US$14 billion in the second quarter, driven by a rebound in Bitcoin’s price and a recent accounting change that required the company to revalue its Bitcoin holdings.
Saylor recently promised he will not issue new common shares at less than 2.5 times its net asset value, except to cover debt interest or preferred dividends. This comes after critics such as Jim Chanos voiced concerns on the premium Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings have on its share price and the many security offerings the company offers.
Strategy’s stock has surged more than 3,000 per cent since its first crypto purchase, outpacing Bitcoin itself as well as major stock indices such as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100. Its first and second largest purchases came in November last year, totalling US$5.4 billion and US$4.6 billion, according to company data. BLOOMBERG
