MicroStrategy buys 3,000 more bitcoins, suffers phishing attack
MicroStrategy, the largest corporate investor in bitcoin, has expanded its cryptocurrency portfolio by buying an additional 3,000 bitcoins for $155 million.
The fresh acquisition, conducted between February 15 and February 25, boosts the company’s total bitcoin holdings to 193,000 coins. The purchases were made at an average price of $51,813 per token, as disclosed in a recent SEC filing.
Michael Saylor, the Executive Chairman of MicroStrategy, revealed via X that the company’s bitcoin investments now total $6.09 billion, averaging $31,544 per bitcoin. With the current bitcoin price at $51,366, MicroStrategy enjoys an unrealized profit of $3.8 billion.
In pre-market trading, MicroStrategy’s shares (MSTR) saw a modest increase of 1.1%, reaching $695. However, the company’s engagement with digital assets recently faced a setback when its X account was compromised, which resulted in the theft of over $440,000 in crypto.
According to blockchain investigator ZachXBT, a phishing message was posted on the account, misleading followers with the announcement of an MSTR token launch and a link to claim the nonexistent token. MSTR, also the symbol for MicroStrategy’s stock, was falsely used in the phishing scheme.
By the end of January, MicroStrategy’s investment in bitcoin stood at a total cost of $5.93 billion, averaging $31,224 per bitcoin. The recent surge in bitcoin’s price, which has rallied more than 20% in 2024, has not only pushed the company’s holdings above $10 billion but also doubled its profit to more than $4 billion from nearly $2 billion in December last year.
Saylor attributed the rising bitcoin prices to the market’s positive reaction to the listing of spot bitcoin ETFs, suggesting that the introduction of these financial products has corrected a long-standing imbalance in bitcoin’s supply and demand dynamics. This adjustment, he implies, has been driven by a decade-long demand for a retail-accessible bitcoin product, further fueling the cryptocurrency’s price increase.
Earlier in January, Michael Saylor sold $216 million worth of his shares in the business software company as part of a plan to exercise stock options granted in 2014 and to acquire additional Bitcoin for his personal account.
Saylor’s decision to sell the shares and purchase Bitcoin aligns with his long-standing advocacy for the primary cryptocurrency. He has been a vocal proponent of Bitcoin since reversing his initial skepticism in 2013.
Saylor’s personal Bitcoin holdings are also substantial. He revealed in a 2020 tweet that he had acquired 17,732 BTC at an average purchase price of $9,882. At current prices, his holdings are worth over $900 million, placing him among the top Bitcoin addresses.
