Software seller MicroStrategy buys $820M worth of bitcoin as corporates scoop up crypto
Saylor’s stackin’ sats… MicroStrategy, an enterprise-software biz that talks a lot about AI, said this week that it purchased 12K bitcoin for $820M. The announcement came the same day the crypto’s price hit a new all-time high (since surpassed), and on Wednesday MicroStrategy said it planned to raise $500M to buy even more BTC. The company’s exec chairman, Michael Saylor (a “bitcoin maximalist”), said it currently owns 205K BTC (that’s $15B worth). This week’s purchase solidified MicroStrategy’s place as one of the largest publicly traded HODLers of the OG crypto. But it isn’t the only company coppin’ coins:
Muskoin: As of this month, Tesla’s crypto wallets were said to hold 11K+ bitcoin. That’s up 1.7K coins from the last time the company reported earnings.
Unblocked: Block (fka Square) held about 8K BTC as of December and Coinbase about 9K (separate from the coins that it custodies for customers).
BTW: A recent accounting-rule change benefits companies that hold crypto by letting them recognize unrealized price gains on their balance sheets.
Behind the buys… There’s no direct connection between crypto and MicroStrategy’s day-to-day biz, but the investment strategy’s been a boon for the company’s share price. Crypto-curious investors saw the stock as a way to get exposure to bitcoin without having to actually hold any coins. It paid off for MicroStrategy: its shares have more than 7X’d on the year. Now that the SEC has approved spot bitcoin ETFs, there are more options for crypto exposure, but those carry management fees.
Alt investments come with alt risk… MicroStrategy’s stock boomed with the price of bitcoin, but that comes at the cost of tying the company’s future to the crypto. When bitcoin’s up, that works out for shareholders. But crypto’s a notoriously volatile asset, and MicroStrategy’s big investment could mean exposure to risks a typical enterprise-software company may not face. Saylor, meanwhile, said his company planned to hold on to bitcoin for 100 years.