Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy currently holds about 189,150 bitcoins, worth over $8 billion as of December 27.
According to Michael Saylor, who founded the company in 1989, MicroStrategy purchased an additional 14,620 bitcoins (BTC) at an average price of $42,110 per coin. expenditure Recent BTC purchases amounted to $615.7 million.
Saylor began purchasing BTC in 2020 following the global pandemic as he sought to mitigate “the eroding threat of inflation.” MicroStrategy has since put about $5.9 billion into Bitcoin.
Saylor’s investment strategy means the company has acquired the cryptocurrency’s top tokens through a mix of cash, debt and equity, generating around $2 billion in returns on its BTC portfolio. Investing in BTC has also benefited MicroStrategy’s stock. The company’s stock is up more than 300% in 2023 alone, according to Google Finance, and was trading at $603.89 at press time.
The decision to double down on Bitcoin comes as several Wall Street stalwarts and cryptocurrency asset managers are seeking approval for a spot BTC ETF, an exchange-traded fund that would hold the cryptocurrency and provide Bitcoin exposure to U.S. investors. It matches the application.
13 filers, including BlackRock, Hashdex, and ARK 21Shares, submitted bids to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It is unknown whether the SEC will approve such an application, but the watchdog has engaged the company in connection with the filing, which has sparked amendments and speculation that a spot BTC ETF could finally be approved in the United States.
Saylor said that if approved, a spot Bitcoin ETF could be a watershed moment for the traditional finance and cryptocurrency industries. ETF experts and speculators alike believe a decision will be made in early January 2024, about three months before the BTC halving event in April.