MicroStrategy owns more bitcoin than the US government

MicroStrategy, the Nasdaq-listed business-intelligence firm, has stolen some of the limelight on Wall Street this year — not because of booming demand for its software products, but for its ravenous appetite for bitcoin. The company has hoarded an eye-popping 386,700 bitcoins (now worth ~$37 billion) to date, with another $5.4 billion purchase of 55,500 bitcoins, per Monday’s SEC filings. That’s nearly 5x the amount of bitcoin reportedly owned by Tesla.

With founder Michael Saylor — an advocate for crypto and, unsurprisingly, “volatility” — at its helm, MicroStrategy has focused its efforts on one thing: buying more bitcoin, even as the 2022 crypto crash led to consecutive net losses.

MicroStrategy’s bitcoin holdings more than doubled this year, up more than 1,700% since its first purchase in August 2020, making it the world’s largest publicly traded corporate holder of the cryptocurrency. Shares have surged more than 400% year to date thanks in part to the buying spree, sending the bitcoin-laden firm even higher than the coveted cryptocurrency itself.

Indeed, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net, MicroStrategy holds more bitcoin than the governments of the world’s largest economies. The US and China own around 208,000 and 190,000 coins respectively (though they might own more in hidden wallets) — a haul mainly built up through asset seizures. Combined, that’s about 398,000 bitcoins, which MicroStrategy’s stash (already at 386,700) could easily overtake with just one more major purchase.

In its latest earnings call, the company unveiled its not-so-micro plan to raise as much as $42 billion through equity and bonds with one goal in mind: buying more bitcoin. The bigger question, though, is if MicroStrategy is basically just a bitcoin-buying vehicle, why is the company’s market cap (~$75 billion) so much more than the bitcoin (~$37 billion) it holds? Jack Raines explored the phenomenon.