Strategy, the company formerly known as MicroStrategy and led by Michael Saylor, has overtaken BlackRock’s prominent spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) to become the largest institutional holder of Bitcoin globally.
As per a regulatory filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 20, Strategy purchased an additional 34,164 Bitcoins in the past week at an average price of $74,395 each.
This acquisition cost approximately $2.54 billion and marks the third-largest single purchase in terms of coin count in the company’s history.
The recent transaction increased Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings to 815,061 $BTC, which represents around 3.88% of Bitcoin’s overall supply.
The firm has invested about $61.56 billion to build this position, resulting in an average cost basis of $75,527 per coin. With Bitcoin trading near $75,000 currently, these holdings are valued at roughly $61.2 billion—leaving a portfolio with an unrealized loss exceeding $228 million.
Strategy Surpasses BlackRock IBIT
The magnitude of this latest acquisition is remarkable even when considered independently; acquiring 34,164 Bitcoins alone would rank any company as one of the top five corporate holders worldwide.
This significant purchase enabled Strategy to surpass BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which is recognized as the largest Bitcoin fund globally. Currently holding 798,026 Bitcoins after previously outstripping Strategy earlier in Q1 2024 following U.S. approval for spot Bitcoin ETFs.
This comparison is crucial since both entities represent different approaches toward gaining exposure to Bitcoin assets. BlackRock’s fund manages Bitcoins on behalf of retail and institutional investors through a regulated Wall Street framework.
In contrast, Strategy operates as a publicly traded company that has increasingly positioned itself as a leveraged $BTC treasury vehicle by utilizing debt and equity markets for reserve expansion.
The only other entity widely believed to hold more Bitcoins remains Satoshi Nakamoto—the pseudonymous creator—whose dormant wallets are estimated to contain around 1.1 million coins.
Additonally，Phong Le，the Chief Executive Officer at Strategy，noted that this latest acquisition boosted their annual yield from BTC by an impressive 82% within just one week，amounting now to approximately $4.97 billion。
STRC Becomes Integral To The Model
This recent buy also highlighted how heavily reliant Strategy has become on its preferred securities for funding its cryptocurrency strategy without excessively diluting common shares。
A report indicated that last week alone，the company’s perpetual preferred security known as Stretch generated $2。18 billion—making up nearly85。7%of funds used for purchasing bitcoin。
SIGNIFICANTLY STRC also financed all purchases totaling$1billion made during Week Ending April12。Designed with stability in mind ，STRC aims for trading closeTo$100par value while offering variable dividends withanannualized rateof11。5%。The dividend resets monthly。
Citing previous statements from executives ，this structure was designedto maintain stock values closeTo par while minimizing drastic valuation fluctuations 。
In practice ,Stretchhas evolved into acore componentofthecompany ’sfunding machinery ,withSaylor-ledfirmacquiringnearly100 ,000$ BTC using STRC .
Purchases Made By Strategy Using STRC (Source:Bitcoin For Corporations)
Consequently ,it can be saidthatStrategynowfunctions not merelyasasoftwarecompanyattachedtoaBitcoin treasury ;rather,itisslowlytransformingintoacquisitionvehiclefundedthroughavarietyofpublic-market instruments includingcommon equity 、preferredstockandothersecurities .
The firm stated it utilizes proceedsfromdebtandequityfinancing alongwithoperationalcashflowtobuilditsBitcoin reservesasitsprimarytreasuryasset .
A Familiar Market Pattern Emerges
IftherecentfundingstructurebehindStrategys’ acquisitionshasbecome more sophisticated,the marketresponsefollowingtheseannouncementsremainsrelativelyconsistent . Large disclosuresregardingstrategic purchaseshaveoftenactedastimelybuy-the-rumor,sell-the-news eventsforBitcoin rather than immediate bullish catalysts ;traders oftenposition themselvesaheadbefore filingsare published.
AndreDragosch headresearchatBitwiseEurope commented : “Historically large strategypurchase announcements haveproven sell-the-news eventsforBTC ;likely due tocountersyclical behavior since buyingisold newsbythetimeitisannounced.”
“Large strategy purchase announcements are historically sell-the-news events for bitcoin; probably countercyclical behavior because buying is old news by time it gets announced.”
Performance Of BTC During Strategic Purchase Announcements(Source：Bitwise)
Bitwises’dataillustratesthatindexperformance dipsdownbelow99 。97within30minutesafteranannouncementthenfallsagainreaching99 。96afteranhour beforeattemptingatotalrecoverylateron. The magnitudeofthepurchasealso appearsimportant.For top10 %volumepurchaseswhichgenerallydrawmoreattention,BTCusuallyrisesleadinguptotheannouncementbut then sells off once confirmed followedbyweakness extendingover subsequenttwohours .
This trend mirrors afamiliar marketdynamic where traders anticipate demand aheadleavinglimitedpotentialupsideonceformally disclosed.
< figcaption＞Performance Of Strategic Purchases(Source：Bitwise)
< figcaption＞Performance Of Strategic Purchases(Source：Bitwise)
