KEY POINTS
- CFO Kang said MicroStrategy benefited from the spike in BTC prices during the 4th quarter
- MicroStrategy CEO Phong Le noted that 2023 was an "extraordinary year" for the company
- The business intelligence firm acquired a total of 56,650 BTC in 2023
Business software firm MicroStrategy has revealed that it acquired 850 Bitcoin in January – worth $37 million – bringing its total holdings of BTC to 190,000, worth $8.1 billion, based on the holdings' current market value.
The revelation was made during the company's fourth quarter 2023 earnings call on Tuesday. Andrew Kang, the business intelligence firm's chief financial officer, said MicroStrategy acquired a total of 56,650 BTC last year at an average price of $33,580, as per MicroStrategy's Q4 2023 earnings presentation.
Since the end of the third quarter of 2023, the company acquired 31,755 BTC worth $1.25 billion, marking what Kang said was "the largest quarterly Bitcoin holding increase in the last 3 years and the 13th consecutive quarter of adding more bitcoin on our balance sheet."
He also revealed that MicroStrategy benefited "from the significant increase in Bitcoin prices in Q4 and we also continued to leverage our strategic capital markets activities and cash on hand to accumulate more bitcoin and accrete incremental value for our shareholders."
MicroStrategy President and CEO Phong Le hailed 2023 as "an extraordinary year" for the company. He said the combination of the company's operating structure, focus on technological innovations, and its bitcoin strategy, all helped create value for its shareholders.
In December, the Virginia-based software company added 14,620 BTC to its holdings. The Bitcoins were purchased at an average price of $42,110 each or a total worth of $615.7 million.
MicroStrategy says it is the world's largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. While the company's total revenues saw a 6% year-on-year slump at $124.5 million last year, the executive chairman Michael Saylor is positive about what's in store for 2024, especially as MicroStrategy continues to implement its Bitcoin-centric strategy.
"2024 is the year of the birth of Bitcoin as an institutional-grade asset class. In fact, it's the first new asset class of the modern era," he said. He went on to predict that the next 15 years will be a regulated, institutional, high growth period for 15 years."
Saylor's optimistic tone follows his millions in profits from his early Bitcoin investments.
Following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s approval of 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Saylor's BTC investments made a profit of over $600 million as BTC surged to $45,620. Saylor acquired the BTC at $9,882 apiece back in 2020.
Saylor is known for his maximalist stance toward Bitcoin as he invested in BTC long before other tech moguls realized the potential of the decentralized cryptocurrency.
