MicroStrategy/YouTube
- Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor said Tuesday his company MicroStrategy bought $10 million of the cryptocurrency.
- MicroStrategy's latest purchase brought its bitcoin holdings to 92,079, acquired for $2.25 billion.
- The company has increased its holdings at a time when bitcoin's price has been marching lower.
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MicroStrategy, the business analytics software maker run by bitcoin bull Michael Saylor, has purchased another $10 million of the cryptocurrency, adding to its holdings during a sharp drop in the price.
Saylor in a Tweet on Tuesday said the company he founded bought about 229 bitcoins for $10 million in cash at an average price of around $43,663, inclusive of fees and expenses. He linked to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that reported the purchase.
It appears MicroStrategy has taken advantage of bitcoin's recent price decline to continue beefing up its investment in the world's most-traded digital currency. Bitcoin's price fell into the $43,000 range on Monday, hitting lows not seen since February after Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Twitter suggested the electric vehicle maker would sell, or had sold, its holdings in the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin rebounded slightly after Musk clarified that Tesla still held its bitcoin stake.
Bitcoin has been steadily pulling back since Musk's May 8th hosting gig on "Saturday Night Live," followed by Musk's announcement that Tesla would stop taking bitcoin as payment because of the "insane" amount of energy needed to create new coins and secure the network. Bitcoin on May 8 traded above $59,000.
MicroStrategy on May 13 said it bought about 271 bitcoins for $15 million in cash at an average price of $55,387.
With its most recent purchase, MicroStrategy now owns roughly 92,079 bitcoins acquired for $2.25 billion at an average price of $24,450.
Saylor highlighted MicroStrategy's latest purchase of bitcoin a day after he engaged in a heated online exchange with bitcoin critic Peter Schiff. The chief economist and global strategist at Euro Pacific Capital said Saylor offered "asinine advice" to hold bitcoin as an inflationary hedge.
Saylor shot back with a screenshot showing gold would have provided returns 77% below those of bitcoin over the past 12 months.