MicroStrategy (MSTR), a software firm listed on Nasdaq and the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, has upped its cryptocurrency game, snapping up an additional 11,931 bitcoins. This recent purchase, worth $786 million, was announced in a press release on Thursday morning. With this acquisition, the firm’s total bitcoin holdings have now reached 226,331 tokens, worth close to $15 billion, considering Bitcoin’s current trading around $66,000. Overall, MicroStrategy has purchased its current bitcoin assets at an average price of approximately $36,798 per token, totalling around $8.33 billion.
The Executive Chairman of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, has been leading the firm’s active foray into the Bitcoin market. In the past, the company has initiated lucrative note offerings to institutional investors to finance these purchases. One such instance was an $800 million convertible note offering that followed this recent $786 million purchase. Notably, this $800 million offering was originally set to be for $500 million before it was increased twice and finally fixed at $800 million.
Saylor and his company have been aggressively promoting the adoption of Bitcoin as a reserve asset for corporate treasuries since they began purchasing the cryptocurrency in 2020. This has inspired other companies to follow suit. A prime example is the U.S.-listed Semler Scientific (SMLR) that has not only made Bitcoin a significant treasury asset but is also accessing capital markets to purchase bitcoins.
Since MicroStrategy initiated its Bitcoin purchases four years ago, the company’s shares have seen a ten-fold increase. Meanwhile, shares of Semler have also jumped by over 60%. In addition, financial brokerage Bernstein recently started coverage of MicroStrategy with a favourable outperform rating, citing $2,890 as the target price for the firm’s shares.