Saylor's Strategy buys 950 Bitcoin as price nears $86,000

Strategy, the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, bought 950 Bitcoin for nearly $76 million over the past week, according to its latest financial disclosure. The purchase was the company's first Bitcoin acquisition in roughly three weeks and lifted its total holdings to 846,000 Bitcoin. It coincided with Bitcoin's price rising more than 6% over 24 hours to nearly $86,000 and led to a nearly 9% rise in Strategy shares to $167. The share-price rise was also helped by Strategy spending $174 million to repurchase STRC, its dividend-paying preferred shares. Led by billionaire Michael Saylor, Strategy holds around 4% of Bitcoin's total supply. Bitcoin's latest rise extended its recovery from a yearlong bear market. The cryptocurrency fell as low as $58,000 in June, roughly 53% below its $125,000 price last October. Strategy's large Bitcoin holdings have made its stock a proxy for the cryptocurrency's volatility. Saylor has long promoted a "never sell your Bitcoin" approach, but the company has sold Bitcoin four times in the past four months. Strategy created STRC last year to raise cash from investors for additional Bitcoin purchases as the cryptocurrency's decline put pressure on the company's finances. The preferred shares pay regular dividends. Strategy returned to buying Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency rebounded over the past month and has made two purchases. Its latest STRC buyback reduced the company's future payments to investors. Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at financial technology firm IG Group, said Strategy's return to buying suggested that the company saw enough support for Bitcoin's recovery to resume accumulating it. He said the latest purchase was modest compared with some earlier acquisitions, but that the smaller buy did not necessarily indicate a specific concern and might reflect a strategy of adding Bitcoin gradually as its price rises. Beauchamp said renewed Bitcoin buying pressure began in mid-August after the U.S. Treasury announced it would double purchases of older long-term government bonds. He said worries about government bonds, rising yields and inflation revived Bitcoin's appeal as an alternative asset after investors had focused on faster-moving themes such as artificial intelligence. He also said the Federal Reserve's latest interest-rate hike affected the rally. When Fed Chair Kevin Warsh announced a quarter-point rate increase on Sept. 16, Bitcoin initially fell to about $75,600, erasing gains made earlier that month. The decline was short-lived, and Bitcoin soon resumed its ascent. Beauchamp said the widely expected rate hike removed a key source of uncertainty and allowed markets to take a more rational approach to the future.