Strategy Makes Biggest Bitcoin Purchase Since September, While Bitmine, Strive Slow Down

Strategy bought 1,036 Bitcoin over the past week, marking its second consecutive week of buying.

• Strategy now holds 850,364 BTC, acquired for a total of $64.16 billion.
• At Bitcoin’s current price of around $75,200, the holdings carry an estimated unrealized loss of $277 million.
• Strive bought just 29 Bitcoin over the past month, while Bitmine acquired 9,587 ETH in the last week. 

Strategy (MSTR) bought more Bitcoin (BTC) over the past seven days for a second straight week, while Tom Lee’s Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) and Strive (ASST), which also hold cryptocurrency as a core part of their balance sheets, slowed their purchases.

According to the company’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Strategy bought 1,036 BTC over the past week, at an average of $79,012 per coin, marking its largest purchase of the apex cryptocurrency since September. It now holds 850,364 Bitcoin, bought for a total of $64.16 billion. 

With Bitcoin’s price at around $75,200 on Monday morning, the company’s holdings were worth less than their aggregate purchase cost, leaving it with an estimated unrealized loss of $277 million.

Bitcoin had recovered some of its early losses after falling below $74,000 in morning trading, but remained down more than 1% over the previous 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around BTC trended in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day.

Meanwhile, MSTR stock traded flat with retail sentiment on Stocktwits shifting to ‘bearish’ from ‘extremely bearish’ over the past day.

Strategy Directs Most Stock Sale Proceeds To Preferred Share Buybacks

Strategy funded its latest Bitcoin purchase by selling $283.8 million of its common stock. However, most of the proceeds went toward buying back preferred shares rather than adding to its Bitcoin holdings.

The company used $188.3 million to repurchase shares of its Stretch preferred stock (STRC),  representing roughly two-thirds of the common-stock proceeds. STRC pays a variable dividend and has been one of Strategy’s main funding channels. 

Strategy also reported a $4.77 billion cash reserve intended to cover preferred dividends and interest payments on its debt. It used $21.1 million from that reserve to pay preferred dividends last week.

Strive Adds Just 29 Bitcoin To Treasury

Strive (ASST) acquired 29 Bitcoin since October-end, at an average price of about $75,721 per coin, according to its filing. That was a sharp slowdown from the 6,182 BTC it bought in the week ended Oct. 23, when the company was raising capital through a new preferred stock offering.

Strive now holds 43,153 Bitcoin and $487.6 million in cash. It also owns 505,000 shares of Strategy’s STRC preferred stock, valued at approximately $50.4 million.

ASST stock gained nearly 4% in morning trade. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the Bitcoin treasury trended in ‘neutral’ territory over the past day.

Bitmine’s Ethereum Holdings Reach 4.97% Of Circulating Supply

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), the largest corporate holder of Ethereum (ETH), acquired 9,587 ETH over the past week. That was down from 10,452 ETH in its last weekly disclosure.

The company now holds 6.07 million ETH, equivalent to 4.97% of the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply. However, the value of Bitmine’s holdings declined to $14.3 billion from $14.5 billion a week earlier, largely reflecting the drop in Ethereum’s price. 

Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee also pointed to comments from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin at a developer conference in Mumbai. Lee quoted Buterin as saying, “I’ve finally made up my mind, ETH is a store of value, ETH is money.”

Lee described the remark as “a seismic shift” in how Ether could accrue value.

BMNR stock rallied over 3% in morning trade, with retail sentiment around the firm on Stocktwits trending in ‘bullish’ territory over the past day. Chatter increased to ‘high’ from ‘normal’ levels.

However, Ethereum’s price was still in the red, down over 4% in the last 24 hours and trading at around $2,100. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the leading altcoin trended in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day.

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