Software firm Strategy—formerly MicroStrategy—outlined its latest plan for purchasing more Bitcoin in an announcement Thursday that underscored its deepening commitment to investing in the cryptocurrency.
The self-described “Bitcoin Treasury company” said it had set a target of $2 billion for selling zero-coupon convertible bonds. It will use the proceeds to add to its vast Bitcoin holdings. Zero-coupon bonds pay no interest to their holders but can be converted into company stock.
The bonds will mature in March 2030, the company said, and will be unsecured, senior obligations—bonds that aren’t backed by collateral.
Strategy’s latest announcement is part of its “21/21 Plan” announced last year to raise $42 billion to buy more Bitcoin. The plan would see the firm raise $21 billion via equity, with another $21 billion coming by selling fixed income securities. The initiative comes as the price of the largest crypto by market value has risen dramatically.
Strategy’s pivot to Bitcoin
Once a quiet software company, Strategy started buying Bitcoin back in 2020 as part of an emergency plan to make money for shareholders following COVID-19 lockdowns.
Co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, then the CEO, said at the time that Bitcoin was the best investment—serving as digital gold—and still argues today that the cryptocurrency is an inflation hedge.
But the company subsequently pivoted more substantially from selling data-analyzing software to primarily securitizing Bitcoin. It buys and holds the cryptocurrency, while investors buy shares of Strategy to get exposure to the orange coin without actually handling it.
Tysons Corner, Virginia-based Strategy now holds 478,740 BTC—worth over $47 billion at today’s price of about $98,500—that it spent about $31.1 billion on. It is the world’s largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency by far. The pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is believed to hold 1.1 million BTC, the most of any person or entity.
Strategy stock (NASDAQ: MSTR) was trading for $14.44 the day the company announced its first Bitcoin buy in August 2020. It was most recently trading at about $323—a 2,136% increase, according to Nasdaq data.
Edited by James Rubin
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