MicroStrategy Buys $209 Million in Bitcoin as Purchases Drop

(Bloomberg) — MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR). She said she bought $209 million worth of Bitcoin (Bitcoin-dollar), marking the eighth straight week of buying for the dot-com-era software maker turned leveraged proxy for the original cryptocurrency.

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Michael Saylor, co-founder and chairman of the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company, has focused on growing MicroStrategy’s holdings of Bitcoin. This strategy has led to the company’s market value reaching more than $80 billion, which helped it join the Nasdaq 100 index last week.

MicroStrategy bought 2,138 bitcoin tokens at an average price of about $97,837 from Dec. 23 to Dec. 29, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. Bitcoin prices have fallen again from highs of over $100,000 earlier in December, yet MicroStrategy is still reducing the amount of Bitcoin it purchases weekly.

The Bitcoin treasury company aims to raise $42 billion in capital over the next three years through market share sales and convertible debt offerings for the purpose of purchasing more of the cryptocurrency. The company has already exceeded two-thirds of its equity targets in two months, putting it on track to complete its capital targets well ahead of schedule.

Hedge funds have been driving some of the demand as they seek to use MicroStrategy for convertible arbitrage strategies by buying bonds and shorting stocks, essentially betting on the volatility of the underlying stocks.

MicroStrategy is seeking permission to increase the number of authorized shares of Class A common stock and preferred stock to bolster its capital plan, according to a proxy statement filed last week.

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