Strategy resumes Bitcoin buying with 950 BTC after two-week pause

Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, added 950 BTC in the week to September 20, ending a two-week gap in Bitcoin accumulation and raising its total holdings to 846,000 BTC. At the $81,200 Bitcoin price used in Monday's filing, the 950 BTC was worth roughly $77 million. The company's previous acquisition was on August 31, when it ended a 10-week pause by buying 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million at an average price of $80,318 per coin. Last week's purchase was about 79% smaller in dollar terms. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor previewed the purchase on Sunday with a post that said, "A little more orange." Bitcoin later rose above the price used in Strategy's calculation and traded near $85,020 on Monday, up almost 6% over 24 hours. Over the same period, Strategy repurchased $174 million of its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, or STRC, a Nasdaq-listed share class designed to trade close to $100. The repurchase cost more than twice the value of the Bitcoin bought. Strategy began buying STRC in late July at an average of $86.52 per share, and the stock closed at $98.51 on Friday. Chief Executive Phong Le said repurchases below $100 per share were an attractive allocation of capital because they could reduce future preferred dividend requirements at a discount. The repurchases are funded by common share sales and potential Bitcoin sales rather than the company's dollar holdings, which stood at $6.09 billion on September 20. The structure came from the Digital Credit Capital Framework Strategy set out in June. BeInCrypto had identified STRC's return toward par in August as one condition that could allow Bitcoin buying to restart. Bitcoin buying did restart, but at a fraction of the earlier pace. MSTR common stock trades at 0.88 times the value of the Bitcoin behind it, according to BitcoinTreasuries. A filing next Monday is expected to show whether the 950 BTC purchase was a floor or a new run rate.