A US software company now owns more cryptocurrency than any single country after taking its bitcoin holdings to more than $14 billion (£11bn).
In its latest financial results, MicroStrategy announced that it bought 25,250 bitcoins in the first four months of 2024, taking its total to 214,400 BTC – more than 1 per cent of all bitcoins in existence.
The firm’s bitcoin holdings make it the largest corporate holder of bitcoin in the world, with more than 10 times more than the second biggest bitcoin-holding public company: mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings.
MicroStrategy’s latest purchase means it also owns more bitcoin than the United States, which has 207,189 BTC valued at $13.5bn, according to data gathered by Bitcoin Treasuries.
“It is through our unique bitcoin strategy and solid track record as an operating company that we now hold 214,400 bitcoins at an average purchase price of $35,180 per bitcoin,” said MicroStrategy chief executive Phong Le.
Bitcoin is currently trading at around $64,000, meaning MicroStrategy is up more than $6 billion from its crypto investment.
MicroStrategy appears unlikely to cash in on its investment, with founder Michael Saylor frequently posting images of diamond hands to X (formerly Twitter), signalling an intention to not sell despite price fluctuations.
“When MicroStrategy adopted a Bitcoin Strategy, it anticipated volatility and structured its balance sheet so that it could continue to #HODL through adversity,” Mr. Saylor wrote in 2022 during a major downturn in the crypto market.
On Monday, with the price of bitcoin once again approaching record highs, Mr. Saylor wrote: “Bet on the winner #Bitcoin”.
The price has been buoyed by two major events in the crypto space in recent months. The first was the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving the first ever spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for bitcoin in January. This brought billions of dollars of institutional investment to the market for the first time.
The second was an event known as the ‘halving’, which takes place roughly every four years and sees the rewards for mining bitcoin cut in half. This decrease in supply, combined with the increase in demand, saw bitcoin hit a new all-time high in March above $73,000.
