(Bloomberg) — MicroStrategy Inc. purchased 18,300 Bitcoin for around $1.11 billion, the largest acquisition of the digital asset by the crypto hedge-fund proxy in more than three years.
The enterprise software maker, whose corporate strategy includes buying the cryptocurrency, bought the tokens between Aug. 6 and Sept. 12, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday. It’s the largest amount of tokens purchased since the firm announced in February 2021 that it snapped up 19,452.
MicroStrategy now holds around 244,800 Bitcoin, valued at around $14 billion. That’s around 1% of all the Bitcoin ever issued. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust is the world’s largest Bitcoin fund at about $20 billion. MicroStrategy has acquired its tokens at an aggregate purchase price of about $9.45 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $38,585, according to the filing. Bitcoin was little changed at around $57,880 on Friday.
The Tysons Corners, Virgina-based firm started acquiring the cryptocurrency in 2020 as a capital allocation strategy, with co-founder and chairman Michael Saylor citing the need to hedge against inflation. While Saylor has won the admiration of Bitcoin supporters, few US public company besides Tesla Inc. and a handful of crypto-related firms have decided to hold the volatile cryptocurrency on its balance sheet.
Proceeds from the issuance and sale of common shares were used to finance the latest acquisitions. MicroStrategy conducted a 10-for-1 stock split in August, saying it would make the shares more accessible to investors and employees.
The company’s shares have more than doubled this year, outperforming the roughly 40% jump in the price of Bitcoin during the same period.
(Updates with history of crypto purchases, starting in the first paragraph.)
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