Michael Saylor’s Strategy owns 3% of Bitcoin in circulation after latest purchase

[NEW YORK] Michael Saylor’s Strategy now owns more than 3 per cent of all the Bitcoin ever minted following the crypto treasury company’s latest purchase of the original cryptocurrency.

The former MicroStrategy acquired 6,220 Bitcoin for US$739.8 million during the seven days ended Jul 20, according to a filing on Monday (Jul 21) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This raised the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm’s holdings to 607,770 Bitcoin, which is about 3.05 per cent of the roughly 19.9 million token issued. The stack is worth about US$72 billion.

Strategy has been using a combination of common and preferred shares, as well as debt, to fund Bitcoin purchases since it began accumulating the cryptocurrency in late 2020 as a hedge against inflation. Dozens of companies have begun to emulate the practice. Strategy is the world’s leading corporate owner of Bitcoin. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) holds about US$86 billion in assets.

While some other tokens’ unlimited supply has concerned investors, Bitcoin’s store of value proposition has been buoyed by the 21 million limit on the number of tokens to be mined. Instructions in the network’s original code have further helped to promote the scarcity value of the token, such as quadrennial halving events that automatically slash the amount of token rewards miners earn. The last Bitcoin is expected to be issued in the year 2140.

Strategy said separately on Monday that it planned to offer five million of variable rate Series A perpetual Stretch preferred stock to help finance additional Bitcoin purchases. It is the fourth series of preferred shares by the company.

The common shares of Strategy has surged more than 3,500 per cent since Saylor, a founder and executive chairman of the company, began buying Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency has risen about 1,100 per cent during the same period, while S&P 500 has increased around 120 per cent. BLOOMBERG