Strategy Spent Another $27 Million on Bitcoin Before It Crashed

Strategy, the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, said that it spent $27 million on the asset last week, but it appears that the firm did so before the leading cryptocurrency’s price plunged on Friday.

Although Bitcoin’s price ranged between $126,000 and $110,000 last week, Strategy said that it purchased 220 Bitcoin at an average price of $123,500, a figure that aligns more closely with Bitcoin’s all-time high mark a week ago than the dip that followed, according to a press release.

Strategy’s latest Bitcoin purchase was its third-smallest this year, but it still lifted the average cost of Bitcoin in its stockpile above the $74,000 mark. At other points this year, Strategy has unveiled weekly Bitcoin purchases costing the firm as much as $2.46 billion.

The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm said it now owns 640,250 Bitcoin, which was worth around $73 billion based on current prices, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko.

In recent weeks, when Strategy has raised proceeds solely from selling preferred shares, its corresponding Bitcoin purchases have been smaller than periods in which it issues common shares at a premium to relative its Bitcoin holdings to increase its stockpile.

The company’s latest Bitcoin purchase was funded with proceeds from selling $1.7 million worth of STRK, $17.1 million worth of STRF, and $6.9 million worth of STRD. Introduced as an additional funding mechanism this year, some preferred shares receive dividend payments.

On Monday, Bitcoin’s price hovered around $115,000, clawing back some losses amid hopes that trade tensions would de-escalate between the U.S. and China. Although Bitcoin’s price was down 8% over the past week, altcoins showed even greater losses.

Strategy’s shares changed hands around $304.78 on Monday, rising slightly from Friday, according to Yahoo Finance. The firm’s stock price has fallen 15% in the past five trading days.

“Don’t worry about China,” U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday, after sparking a global sell-off with threats of steeper levies on the nation.

“No tariffs on Bitcoin,” Strategy co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor wrote on X on Friday.

Bitcoin treasury firms have exploded in popularity this year, but amid an increasingly crowded field, only one outperformed Bitcoin itself in the third quarter, according to Greg Cipolaro, Global Head of Research at NYDIG.

In a report last week, he wrote that a Bitcoin-buying firm called Empery Digital outperformed Bitcoin’s 6.2% rise, while Strategy’s stock price fell 20.3% during the period.

As a result, it became less lucrative for Strategy to grow its Bitcoin stockpile by issuing common shares, as its stock went from being valued at an 86% premium to its Bitcoin holdings to a 39% premium. 

“What started off as a balance sheet investment with MSTR in 2020 morphed into a full-blown industry of public companies whose nearly entire objective is to own one crypto or another,” he added, referring to Strategy by its ticker symbol.