Tag: Microstrategy

Bitcoin Surpasses $30,000 Mark, Reaches New High in 2023

by Blockchain News

Bitcoin has been making headlines once again as it surpasses the $30,000 mark, setting a new high for 2023. According to data from CoinGecko, Bitcoin has risen to almost $30,200, a price it has not reached since June 10, 2022. The surge in price is a welcome development for the cryptocurrency market, which has been facing uncertainty over the past year.

In the last 30 days, Bitcoin has recorded gains of nearly 46%, rising to its highest level in ten months on April 11. Experts predict that its price will continue to rise as traders await the United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) report on April 12. The report will provide insight into the Federal Reserve’s efforts to control inflation, and its findings could potentially impact the cryptocurrency market.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index, which aims to numerically present the current “emotions and sentiments” toward Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market, has been firmly within the “Greed” territory since last week. Its latest update on April 11 showed a score of 68 out of a possible total of 100, indicating a strong optimism in the market.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index reached a score of 68 on March 21, marking its highest level since November 16, 2021, just days after Bitcoin’s all-time high of over $69,000 was recorded on November 10, 2021. The index’s continued high scores suggest that the market is bullish about the future of Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market.

Michael Saylor, the founder and executive chairman of business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, has been one of Bitcoin’s most outspoken advocates. He has been leading the charge for corporations to adopt cryptocurrency as a strategic asset, and his efforts have not gone unnoticed. MicroStrategy has added billions worth of Bitcoin to its balance sheet, currently owning 140,000 BTC as of April 5 for a total purchase price of $4.17 billion.

MicroStrategy’s investment in Bitcoin has been profitable, with an average price of roughly $29,803 per coin. The latest price surge means that MicroStrategy has made a gain on its investment, providing further evidence of the cryptocurrency’s long-term potential as a store of value.

MicroStrategy has been steadily increasing its BTC holdings since its first purchase in August 2020, even with the ongoing crypto bear market. Its commitment to Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market has inspired other companies to consider investing in digital assets as a strategic asset.

In conclusion, Bitcoin’s recent price surge is a positive development for the cryptocurrency market, providing renewed optimism for investors and traders. With the United States Consumer Price Index report just around the corner, experts anticipate further growth in the cryptocurrency market, particularly for Bitcoin. As companies like MicroStrategy continue to invest in Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency’s long-term potential as a store of value becomes increasingly apparent.

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Microstrategy’s Bitcoin Investment Turns Green Again

by Blockchain News

Fortune 500 company Microstrategy’s investment in Bitcoin has once again turned profitable as the leading cryptocurrency hit a new 10-month high of $30,163. The firm started investing in Bitcoin in the second quarter of 2020 when the BTC price was trading around $10,000. Since then, it has made a series of BTC purchases over a period of two years and accumulated a total of 140,000 BTC for nearly $4.17 billion at an average price of $29,803 per BTC.

Microstrategy co-founder Michael Saylor introduced the Bitcoin strategy as a treasury hedging asset over the US dollars, and the firm has held BTC both personally and on its balance sheet. Saylor also convinced several public companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, to accumulate BTC on their balance sheets.

The Bitcoin bet made by Microstrategy looked lucrative throughout the bull market in 2021, with the BTC price hitting an all-time high of nearly $65,000 in April 2021. However, the prolonged crypto winter in 2022 fueled by multiple crypto contagions crashed BTC price by over 70%, resulting in a loss for Microstrategy’s Bitcoin investment.

Critics of Microstrategy’s Bitcoin investment were quick to point out the losses incurred during the bear market in 2022. However, the BTC price has shown strength throughout 2023, with a 55% increase in the first quarter of the year. The price has closed above the previous month’s high for three months in a row, considered to be a bullish market indicator and a sign of another bull run on the horizon.

Bitcoin has outperformed most traditional stocks and bonds this year and has even eclipsed the losses incurred from the crypto contagions caused by FTX and Terra-Luna saga. The resilience of Bitcoin and its increasing adoption by public companies like Microstrategy and Tesla is a testament to the growing importance of cryptocurrencies in the global financial ecosystem.

Background information on Microstrategy’s Bitcoin investment strategy:

Microstrategy’s investment in Bitcoin is unique and unconventional, given that it is a business intelligence firm and not a financial institution. However, the company’s CEO, Michael Saylor, is a vocal proponent of Bitcoin and believes that it has the potential to replace fiat currency in the long term.

Saylor introduced the Bitcoin strategy as a treasury hedging asset over the US dollars, which are subject to inflation and depreciation. By holding BTC on its balance sheet, Microstrategy can protect its treasury against the devaluation of fiat currency and earn higher returns on its investment.

The company’s Bitcoin investment has attracted criticism from some analysts who view it as a risky bet that could potentially harm the firm’s financial health. However, Saylor has defended the strategy, stating that Bitcoin is a store of value that has appreciated over time and that the company’s long-term investment horizon mitigates short-term price fluctuations.

Microstrategy’s Bitcoin investment has also inspired several other public companies to add BTC to their balance sheets, including Tesla, Square, and Marathon Digital Holdings. 

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MicroStrategy Acquires Additional 1,045 Bitcoin

by Blockchain News

The American business intelligence company MicroStrategy has officially made public its most recent purchase, which consisted of an extra 1,045 Bitcoin (BTC) and cost around $29.3 million. On April 5, 2023, Michael Saylor, the executive chairman of MicroStrategy, put out a tweet notifying the followers of the firm of this specific piece of information.

As a result of this most recent purchase, MicroStrategy now holds a total of 140,000 Bitcoins, raising the total number of Bitcoins that the business possesses to a total of 240,000. At the time that these Bitcoins were bought, the price per Bitcoin averaged out to be $29,803, which resulted in an acquisition cost of around $4.17 billion. The constant investment in bitcoin as a reserve asset that MicroStrategy makes as part of its business strategy has enabled the firm to reach a major new benchmark. This reflects the company’s faith in Bitcoin and indicates the company’s excitement on the possibilities of the cryptocurrency over the longer term.

Given that MicroStrategy made its first buy of Bitcoin in August 2020 and has been continuously adding to its holdings ever since, one possible Bitcoin strategy that the company implements is dollar-cost averaging. This is due to the fact that MicroStrategy made its first purchase of Bitcoin in August 2020. The most recent purchase was made not long after the firm redeemed the money it had gotten from Silvergate. Around the end of March, the company also bought an additional 6,500 BTC. Recent events have seen both of these trades take place.

The decision made by MicroStrategy to invest in Bitcoin was unquestionably successful, as shown by the fact that the entire value of the company’s assets has now surpassed $12.6 billion. This implies that the organization took a strategic decision that was beneficial to its business. This larger trend is seeing a growing number of financial institutions adopt a strategy that is defined as “investing in cryptocurrency as a hedge against inflation and a store of value.” One example of this movement is the company’s attitude to Bitcoin, which is representative of this larger trend.

The fact that MicroStrategy continues to invest in Bitcoin demonstrates a high level of confidence in the potential that the cryptocurrency has in the long term, despite the fact that a number of Bitcoin skeptics have expressed worries about the cryptocurrency’s volatility. It is going to be quite exciting to see how the market for cryptocurrencies develops over the next several years because it is going to be extremely intriguing. MicroStrategy has set a precedent, and it is quite probable that other corporations would invest in Bitcoin in a similar manner to what it has done.

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MicroStrategy Acquires More Bitcoin Amid Market Recovery

by Blockchain News

Business intelligence firm and major Bitcoin investor, MicroStrategy, has announced that it is acquiring more Bitcoin amid the recent cryptocurrency market recovery. According to a recent form 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, MicroStrategy repaid its $205 million loan to Silvergate at a 22% discount and acquired 6,455 Bitcoin for $150 million. The latest purchase brings the total amount of BTC held by the company to 138,955, which was bought for $4.1 billion at an average price of $29,817 per coin.

The company acquired its latest batch of Bitcoin between Feb. 16, 2023 and March 23, 2023. The purchase marks MicroStrategy’s first Bitcoin acquisition of 2023, with the previous purchase taking place in late December 2022, when the company bought 2,395 BTC for $42.8 million at an average price of $17,181 per coin during the period from Nov. 1 to Dec. 21.

In addition to the BTC purchase, MicroStrategy sold class A common stock worth $500 million. According to the latest updates, the company issued and sold an aggregate of 1,348,855 shares under the sales agreement for aggregate net proceeds of approximately $339 million.

As previously announced, MicroStrategy’s subsidiary, MacroStrategy, received a $205 million term loan from Silvergate Bank in March 2022 under its Silvergate Exchange Network Leverage program. The loan was collateralized by certain Bitcoin owned by MacroStrategy and had a scheduled maturity date of March 23, 2025. Under the terms of the credit agreement, MacroStrategy was required to maintain a loan to collateral value ratio of less than 50%.

On March 24, 2023, MacroStrategy and Silvergate entered into a prepayment, waiver, and payoff to credit and security agreement, with MacroStrategy voluntarily prepaying Silvergate around $161 million in full repayment. According to the filing, “Upon Silvergate’s receipt of the payoff amount, the credit agreement was terminated, and Silvergate released its security interest in all of MacroStrategy’s assets collateralizing the loan, including the Bitcoin that was serving as collateral.”

MicroStrategy’s co-founder and former CEO, Michael Saylor, took to Twitter to announce the loan repayment and Bitcoin acquisition. The company’s ongoing acquisition of Bitcoin has made it one of the largest institutional holders of the cryptocurrency.

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Marathon Digital Holdings Sells Some of Its Bitcoin for the First Time

by Blockchain News

The cryptocurrency mining company Marathon Digital Holdings has sold part of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings for the first time in the last two years, making it the second biggest publicly-listed holder of Bitcoin.

The firm reported in an update that was published on February 2 that throughout the month of January it had sold 1,500 BTC, which is equivalent to $35.3 million at the current pricing.

Charlie Schumacher, vice president of corporate communications for Marathon, said that despite the fact that some crypto miners have been compelled to sell Bitcoin owing to the current market conditions, this is not the case for Marathon.

Schumacher said that Marathon had been diamond-handling its Bitcoin up to this point because the company did not want to sell while output was down. Marathon has been positive on the long-term prospects of the most prominent cryptocurrency.

Marathon, however, plans to enter the new year with a “war chest” of liquidity that will be comprised of both cash and Bitcoin. Additionally, the company intends to continue paying down its debt and increasing its cash balances.

In addition, Schumacher said that the recent price increase of bitcoin was a factor that led to the decision to sell part of its assets.

The price of Bitcoin broke beyond the $24,000 threshold for the first time since August, when it did so in the month of January.

Even after the transaction, Marathon was able to bring its total unconstrained Bitcoin holdings to 8,090 BTC for the month, which is equivalent to $189.8 million.

Marathon said that it has greatly increased Bitcoin output over the month of January, creating 687 BTC. This figure indicates a 45% increase in production in comparison to the amount produced during the previous month. The chairman and CEO of Marathon, Fred Thiel, stated the following in the latest update: “The improvement in our bitcoin production was primarily a result of our team’s ability to work in tandem with the new hosting provider in McCamey, Texas, to address the maintenance and technical issues at the King Mountain data centre that had suppressed our bitcoin production in the fourth quarter of 2022.” This information was provided in a May 4 update from the previous year. Marathon had stated that the last time it had sold any Bitcoin was on

When questioned how it had been able to avoid selling the primary product of its business operations, Schumacher referred to the company’s minimal staff, which consisted of “32 individuals as of today,” and argued that it was the outcome of strong long-term financial plans.

According to CoinGecko, Marathon is the second-largest publicly listed holder of Bitcoin. The software analytics business MicroStrategy is the largest publicly listed holder of Bitcoin. According to MarketWatch, the company’s stock has increased by 135% so far this year to a price of $8, which has led to a huge increase in the share price that it has been reporting over the last few days.

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Coinbase Up 69%, MicroStrategy Up 74% From Lows

by Blockchain News

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It’s been green candles all around since the beginning of 2023, as the share price of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has increased by 69% since it hit an all-time low, and other crypto-related firms, like business analytics company MicroStrategy, have enjoyed similar rises.

On January 6, the price of a share of Coinbase reached a low of $31.95, but by the time trading was done on January 17, it had climbed all the way back up to $54.14. After a difficult year in 2022, during which Coinbase reduced its employees by 20% and wound down its activities in Japan, the increasing share price is expected to be met by a great sigh of relief from the company’s leadership.

Despite the recent increase, COIN is still trading at a price that is more than 84% lower than its all-time high. Other crypto-related companies, such as MicroStrategy and Block Inc., which is a digital payments startup, have also had significant price increases since the beginning of the year.

MicroStrategy’s share price has increased to nearly $236, representing an increase of over 74%, from a low of just over $135 on December 29; this compares to Jack Dorsey’s Block’s share price, which has seen a muted but still respectable increase of 27%, after rebounding from a low of under $59 on December 28 to over $75.

The recovery for crypto mining equities has been much more spectacular. During the first two weeks of the new year, both Bitfarms and Marathon Digital Holdings saw their share prices increase by a significant amount: 140% and 120%, respectively.

Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also returned, although to a lesser degree, with the price of the Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) more than doubling from its low point of little over $4 on December 28 to over $8 today.

The price of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) has more than doubled from the 28th of December, when it was over $10, and is now hovering around $13; this represents an increase of just under one-third.

After having traded at a discount of more than 45% on December 28, it is now resting at a discount of just over 36% at this time.

It is interesting to note that December 28 seemed to represent a market bottom for many different cryptocurrencies and stocks, despite the fact that some market analysts believe Bitcoin in particular has skyrocketed on the back of the positive inflation figures from the United States that were released on January 12. Bitcoin’s price has increased by over 17% since those positive inflation figures were released.

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MicroStrategy is Hiring a Bitcoin Developer to Design Enterprise Solutions

by Blockchain News

American Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm, MicroStrategy Incorporated has put out a call in search of a Bitcoin Lightning Software Engineer. 

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The firm is looking for a veteran who will help it in designing enterprise-grade solutions that can help startups looking to integrate Bitcoin solutions with security through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform.

 

“As a Bitcoin Lightning Software Engineer at MicroStrategy, you will build a Lightning Network-based SaaS platform, providing enterprises with innovative solutions to cyber-security challenges and enabling new eCommerce use-cases,” MicroStrategy detailed in its job posting.

 

MicroStrategy has accumulated more than 130,000 units of Bitcoin since it declared Bitcoin as its Treasury Reserve Asset (TRA) back in 2020. The company now occupies a very viable position in the crypto ecosystem, helping other institutional grade investors with education and motivation to adopt the digital currencies also.

 

With the new Bitcoin developer that is being projected, MicroStrategy will also seek to establish a reference point by creating a Decentralized Finance (DeFi) focused solution. With the focus to use the Lightning Network, a layer-2 solution built on the Bitcoin network, MicroStrategy is driving a solution that is proven to fasttrack retail payments at a more secure, faster, and cheaper rate.

 

The new engineer will also be tasked with contributing to open source code and representing the firm with top-rated Web3.0 projects.

 

MicroStrategy has yet again, set the pace amongst top institutional investors with a vested interest in digital currencies. With Michael Saylor setting the pace for the company’s Bitcoin embrace, Phong Le is billed to walk in the veteran’s footsteps and establish the firm as the premier digital currency at the top echelon of firms bolstering the general adoption of Bitcoin.

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Bitcoin Is ‘100 Times Better Than Gold,’ Says Michael Saylor

by Blockchain News

Despite the current market pullback, MicroStrategy co-founder and chairman Michael Saylor remains bullish.

The crypto bull not only thinks that Bitcoin will regain its past glory but also sees the flagship cryptocurrency has a lot of potential to grow beyond its current trading level.

Saylor believes that Bitcoin is 100x better than gold and sees it as the next big ‘store of value asset’. The executive said that during the Money Festival hosted by MarketWatch on Wednesday, but the event was first reported on Saturday, September 24. “I think that the next logical stop for Bitcoin is to replace gold as a non-sovereign store of value asset, and gold is a $10 trillion asset as we speak. Bitcoin is digital gold, it’s 100x better than gold,” Saylor said.

During the festival’s Best New Ideas segment, Saylor did not hold back when he predicted the cryptocurrency’s price may reach $500,000 within the next decade. “You can’t inflate it. The half-life of money in Bitcoin is forever. You can move it on billions of computers at the speed of light. So, if Bitcoin goes to the value of gold, it’s going to $500,000 a coin, and I think that happens this decade,” the executive stated.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $$18,876.55, down 0.55% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Putting into consideration that Bitcoin is trading at this level now, $500,000 projected by Saylor implies that the cryptocurrency has a potential upside of over 2,500%.

Saylor is putting his money where his mouth is. He told MarketWatch that he personally owns 17,732 Bitcoins that he’s had for “about two years” when he bought them at around $9,500 per coin.

Bitcoin Is Separate from Cryptocurrency

Early this year, Fidelity Investment, a Boston-based investment management firm, issued a report that confirmed Saylor’s sentiments. In February, the investment manager acknowledged that although the world is flooded with cash and various cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is special because it has the potential for significant price gains.

Fidelity said Bitcoin is a scarce “monetary good,” superior in many ways to other cryptocurrencies, gold, and even government-issued money like the dollar. The investment manager predicted Bitcoin to be a lot higher in the next five to 10 years.

In early August, Saylor stepped down as MicroStrategy CEO. He is now the executive chairman of the software firm, focusing solely on Bitcoin.

MicroStrategy, a publicly traded software company, is the single largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, with over 129,000 BTC on its balance sheet. Just one month after its popular CEO Michael Saylor stepped down, the company bought 301 Bitcoins for about $6 million, and now holds almost 130,000 Bitcoins in its coffers.

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Despite Market Crash, MicroStrategy Buys 301 Bitcoins Worth $6 Million

by Blockchain News

MicroStrategy has done it again. The Virginia-based business software company has bought additional 301 Bitcoins worth around $6 million to its balance sheet.

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, MicroStrategy purchased 301 Bitcoins (BTC) between August 2 and September 19 for about $6 million.

The filing stated that the software firm that was co-founded by entrepreneur and Bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor purchased the world’s largest cryptocurrency at an average price of $19,851 per coin. This is the company’s first purchase since June, when it bought 480 Bitcoins worth around $10 million during that time.

MicroStrategy, best known as the largest corporate buyer of Bitcoin, now has almost 130,000 Bitcoins, acquiring them for a total price of $3.98 billion, according to an 8-K filing with the SEC.

Prior to the latest purchase, the firm revealed on September 15 its plans to sell up to $500 million in class A common stock and to use the proceeds to buy more Bitcoins.

In August, Saylor stepped down as CEO of the company and assumed a new role as executive chairman to focus his efforts more on Bitcoin.

How Does MicroStrategy Make Money from Bitcoin?

MicroStrategy is known for owning more Bitcoin than any other publicly-traded company. As of June 14, the Virginia-based business intelligence firm held 129,218 Bitcoins, more than two-and-a-half times as much as Tesla, the next largest Bitcoin owner.

The founder of MicroStrategy believes deeply in the promise of the flagship cryptocurrency that the firm took out a $205 million loan from Silvergate Bank to buy $190 million worth of Bitcoin in April. But since then, the crypto market, which was already plunging, has gone into free fall.

MicroStrategy purchased its first 21,454 Bitcoins for $250 million in August 2020, citing worries the US dollar would lose value due to the Covid-19 pandemic, government stimulus spending, and political uncertainty around the globe.

Everyone gets into the crypto landscape to make money, but not all end up doing that. Many people either give up along the way or lose money because they do not properly understand how to make money with cryptocurrency.

But MicroStrategy understands the principles of making money by investing in Bitcoins. Despite the market plunge, MicroStrategy has continued investing in the largest cryptocurrency. In January, MicroStrategy CEO Phong Le said the company’s strategy with Bitcoin has been to buy and hold for long-term purposes (for at least ten years and more). The company has been using excess cash flows or finding other ways to raise money to continue to put it into Bitcoin.

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MicroStrategy Plans to Increase BTC Holding by Selling Class A Shares Worth $500m

by Blockchain News

MicroStrategy Inc plans to increase its bitcoin holdings through the net proceeds of its sale of up to $500 million worth of its class A shares.

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The Tysons business software firm indicated their plan in September 9 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It disclosed a sales deal with Cowen and Company LLC and BTIG LLC to sell those shares from “time to time.”

SEC filings say the proceeds will be used for “general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of bitcoin.”

According to the company, the new stock sale deal will not require MicroStrategy to issue any minimum offering amount. It further indicated in public filings that it expects to spend some of the proceeds on bitcoin purchases, but it did not make any promises about holding onto those purchases.

“We expect to purchase additional bitcoin in future periods, including with the net proceeds from this offering,” the company wrote.

The firm “may also sell bitcoin in future periods as needed to generate cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments for treasury management purposes,” the company wrote.

As of September 8, MicroStrategy held 129,699 bitcoins, whose market value at the time was worth well north of $2 billion.

The move has come a month after Michael Saylor – founder and Chairman of MicroStrategy – decided to step down as CEO. 

However, the company’s stock price is heavily affected by the rise and fall of the bitcoin price. The company has lost more than half its value since the beginning of the year — it stood at roughly $223 as of 3:00 pm Wednesday.

It is unknown how many bitcoin purchases the company has made since the end of June. However, it reported to the SEC that it had spent $10 million to buy 480 bitcoins between May 3 and June 28 – a small buy by the company’s standards. 

In the first six months of 2021, MicroStrategy spent $1.6 billion to buy 34,616 bitcoins. According to SEC filings, the company purchased only 5,308 bitcoins in the first half of 2022.

The company has been looking to increase capital for bitcoin purchases over the past two years. In March 2022, a MicroStrategy subsidiary formed specifically to hold most of its bitcoin took on a $205 million loan to finance more purchases.

The company previously funded its bitcoin purchases with $1 billion in stock sales per an open-market sale agreement made in June 2021 with New York investment bank Jefferies LLC.

The total revenue of MicroStrategy for the second quarter of 2022 was $122.1 million – a decrease from $125.4 million during the same quarter a year earlier.

While the company recorded a net loss of $1.2 billion compared to $409.4 million during the second quarter of 2021.

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Bitcoin (BTC) $ 27,220.29 1.81%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 1,908.16 2.43%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 95.05 1.11%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 114.59 1.11%