Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy increased its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings by 27% on Wednesday after purchasing an additional 19,452 coins, taking its total haul to 90,531 BTC.
Announced on the company’s website on Wednesday, the coins were reportedly purchased for approximately $52,765 per coin, equating to an outlay of just over $1 billion.
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said the firm’s focus was now twofold: grow its analytics software enterprise, and buy more Bitcoin.
Saylor said, “The Company remains focused on our two corporate strategies of growing our enterprise analytics software business and acquiring and holding bitcoin."
In the six months since MicroStrategy announced its first $250 million investment in Bitcoin, the company has gone on to spend in excess of $4 billion on the digital asset. Saylor said there was no plan to stop buying BTC any time soon.
“The company now holds over 90,000 bitcoins, reaffirming our belief that bitcoin, as the world’s most widely-adopted cryptocurrency, can serve as a dependable store of value. We will continue to pursue our strategy of acquiring bitcoin with excess cash and we may from time to time, subject to market conditions, issue debt or equity securities in capital raising transactions with the objective of using the proceeds to purchase additional bitcoin."
The value of MicroStrategy’s purchase exceeded the figures previously floated by the firm, which announced it would raise $900 million to buy more Bitcoin on Feb. 17.
Phong Le, president and chief financial officer of MicroStrategy, said the Bitcoin purchases would help enhance awareness of its brand as a software business while also acting as a sign of faith in the Bitcoin network.
“We believe our bitcoin strategy, including our bitcoin holdings and related activities in support of the bitcoin network, is complementary to our software business, by enhancing awareness of our brand and providing opportunities to secure new customers," he said.