MicroStrategy Continues Bitcoin Acquisition Spree, Loads Up 5,262 BTC ($561M)

MicroStrategy, the largest publicly traded firm holding bitcoin (BTC), has taken another step to solidify its position, purchasing thousands of the leading digital asset for hundreds of millions of dollars.

The business intelligence firm announced on December 23, in a Form 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that it has increased its Bitcoin stash by 5,262 BTC. The coins were purchased for approximately $561 million in cash at an average of $106,662 per BTC.

As of December 22, MicroStrategy held 444,262 BTC acquired for about $27.7 billion at an average of $62,257 per coin.

MicroStrategy Buys $561M BTC

MicroStrategy made the BTC purchases between December 16 and 22 with proceeds from the sale of its shares. In late October, the company entered into a share sale agreement with several institutions to raise $21 billion to handle general corporate activities and purchase more BTC.

By December 22, the business intelligence firm had sold around 1.317 million shares under the sales agreement, raised $561 million, and channeled the funds to purchase more BTC. The firm still has about $7 billion worth of shares available for issuance and sale per the sales agreement.

MicroStrategy’s bitcoin purchases from October 1 had recorded a 47.4% yield by December 22, while the assets acquired from January 1 had a yield of 73.7%.

Becoming a Bitcoin Bank

The latest announcement comes shortly after MicroStrategy founder and executive chairman Michael Saylor defended the company’s Bitcoin acquisition strategy from critics who called it a Ponzi scheme. Some market participants say the company is a pyramid scheme because it has been leveraging debt to increase its BTC holdings, but Saylor insists otherwise. 

Saylor likened MicroStrategy buying BTC to developers in Manhattan, who issue more debt to develop buildings every time real estate rises in value. Since this has been going on for hundreds of years, the co-founder of MicroStrategy believes it is now an economy.

MicroStrategy intends to become a bitcoin bank and has been working toward that goal. For the past six weeks, the firm has announced BTC purchases worth millions of dollars every Monday. Its last acquisition was 15,350 BTC worth $1.5 billion. The company’s total stash is currently worth $41.51 billion, and BTC is trading at $93,300.

Meanwhile, MicroStrategy’s stock MSTR entered the Nasdaq 100 stock index today following its remarkable performance this year.