(Bloomberg) — MicroStrategy Inc (MSTR). said it bought $209 million of Bitcoin (BTC-USD), marking the eighth consecutive week of purchases for the dot-com-era software maker turned leveraged proxy for the original cryptocurrency.
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Michael Saylor, co-founder and chairman of the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm, has focused on increasing MicroStrategy’s holdings of Bitcoin. This strategy has led the company to a market capitalization of more than $80 billion, helping it to join the Nasdaq 100 Index last week.
MicroStrategy purchased 2,138 Bitcoin tokens at an average price of approximately $97,837 from Dec. 23 through Dec. 29, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. Bitcoin prices have dropped back from highs above $100,000 earlier in December, yet MicroStrategy has still reduced the amount of Bitcoin it purchases weekly.
The Bitcoin treasury company aims to raise $42 billion of capital over the next three years through at-the-market stock sales and convertible debt offerings for the purpose of buying more of the cryptocurrency. The company has already surpassed two-thirds of its equity goals in two months, putting it on track to complete its capital goals well ahead of schedule.
Hedge funds have been driving some of the demand as they seek out MicroStrategy for convertible arbitrage strategies by buying the bonds and selling the shares short, essentially betting on the underlying stock’s volatility.
MicroStrategy is seeking permission to increase the number of authorized shares of Class A common stock and preferred stock to further its capital plan, according to a proxy statement filed last week.
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