MicroStrategy Is Considering Buying Even More Bitcoin

The firm filed with the SEC to sell up to $500 million in Class A stock. Guess what it may want to spend the proceeds on.

By Jason Nelson

Michael Saylor. Image: Bitcoin Miami 2021

Publicly traded software company MicroStategy (MSTR) is already the single largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, with over 129,000 BTC in its coffers. Now, just one month after its bombastic CEO Michael Saylor stepped down and one week after the Washington D.C. Attorney General sued the company and Saylor for alleged tax fraud, the company wants to buy more.

In a prospectus filed with the SEC on Friday, MicroStrategy said the firm has entered an agreement with investment bank Cowen & Co. to sell up to $500 million in shares of its Class A common stock.

"We may use the net proceeds from this offering to purchase additional Bitcoin," the company said in the filing. The firm warned of Bitcoin's volatility and wild price swings that saw the largest cryptocurrency by market cap trade below $20,000 earlier this week, down from an all-time-high of $68,789 in November 2021, according to CoinMarketCap data.

"Future fluctuations in Bitcoin trading prices may result in our converting Bitcoin purchased with the net proceeds from this offering into cash with a value substantially below the net proceeds from this offering," the company said.

Decrypt-O's Ep. 1: Tornado Cash Privacy Fears, Bored Ape VMAs Hate, Sheriff Gensler

Eat your Decrypt-O’s! In the debut episode, Sander Lutz hits the street to ask people about their privacy concerns in the wake of the government’s Tornado Cash crackdown; Kate Irwin shares headlines on the wackiest Web3 stories, from Crypto.com sending a woman $10 million by accident to Eminem and Snoop Dogg getting Twitter hate for their Bored Apes; and Dan Roberts serves up a rant about Gary Gensler.

Go to video page

Under Saylor, the enterprise software company has accrued a sizable Bitcoin treasury of 129,699 BTC, today worth over $2.7 billion, which the company says it plans to hold for the long term. 

Last month, MicroStrategy reported a non-cash digital impairment charge of $917.8 million in the second quarter of 2022, that same month, Saylor stepped down as CEO, transitioning to executive chairman.

In the prospectus, MicroStategy added that it has no plans to engage in trading or enter into derivative contracts with its Bitcoin holding, but may sell Bitcoin as needed to generate cash for "treasury management and other general corporate purposes." 

"We have not targeted any specific amount of Bitcoin holdings," the firm said. "We will continue to monitor market conditions in determining whether to conduct debt or equity financings to purchase additional Bitcoin."