Bitcoin (BTC) briefly reclaimed the $30,000 level on Friday, likely driven by renewed optimism that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve the long-awaited spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The surge in crypto prices boded well for MicroStrategy’s (NASDAQ: $MSTR) shares, which climbed 3.1% at the market open.
MicroStrategy is the Largest Corporate BTC Holder
Shares of MicroStrategy jumped 3.1% at the market open on Friday after an improved sentiment in the crypto markets drove Bitcoin above the $30,000 mark for the first time since July. MicroStrategy’s stock was changing hands at $353 per share at the time of writing.
The positive impact of Bitcoin’s resurgence on MicroStrategy’s shares is no surprise, given that Michael Saylor’s company is the world’s largest corporate holder of the maiden cryptocurrency. According to the most recent regulatory filings, the business intelligence firm owns 158,245 BTC, with a total worth of more than $4.69 billion at current market prices.
This figure makes MicroStrategy the biggest publicly-listed corporate owner of Bitcoin, ahead of Fred Thiel’s Marathon Digital (NASDAQ: $MARA) and Michael Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital (TSE: $GLXY). The latter two hold 13,286 and 12,525 BTC, respectively, per CoinGecko data. The fourth-biggest Bitcoin owner is EV giant Tesla (NASDAQ: $TSLA), which holds 10,500 Bitcoins, followed by Coinbase’s 9,182.
MicroStrategy’s latest BTC purchase was revealed in late September when the company bought 5,445 coins for roughly $147.3 million in cash at an average price of $27,053.
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Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Confident that SEC Will Approve Spot Bitcoin ETF
Bitcoin’s surge above the $30,000 threshold on Friday was likely fueled by a fresh wave of optimism caused by the growing confidence that the SEC will approve the much-debated spot BTC ETF. Paul Grewal, the chief legal officer of Coinbase, told CNBC on Friday he firmly believes the first-ever spot Bitcoin ETF will be approved by the securities regulator soon.
“I’m quite hopeful that these [ETF] applications will be granted, if only because they should be granted under the law.”
– Grewal said in an interview with CNBC.
The SEC’s recent attempts to crack down on the crypto industry haven’t worked out as planned. Earlier this month, a US federal judge, Analisa Torres, refused to allow the government agency to appeal her July decision that Ripple Labs did not violate securities laws by selling XRP tokens on public exchanges.
After reclaiming the $30,000 mark briefly, BTC slightly retreated to $29,716.
Do you think the SEC will approve the first-ever spot BTC ETF anytime soon? Let us know in the comments below.
About the author
Tim Fries is the cofounder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate on the investment team at RW Baird’s US Private Equity division, and is also the co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.
