Strategy buys 1,036 BTC but directs more cash to STRC buybacks
Strategy sold $283.8M of MSTR stock in a week, putting $81.9M into bitcoin and $188.3M into repurchasing STRC preferred shares, per its Nov. 9 filing.
Strategy added 1,036 BTC to its treasury between November 2 and November 8, lifting total holdings to 850,364 BTC, according to Bitcoin.com News, The Block and Wu Blockchain. The purchase was disclosed in a Form 8-K filed with the SEC on Monday, November 9. Unfolded reported the purchase as 1,037 BTC, a one-coin difference from the other outlets, which all cite 1,036.
The notable detail is where most of the money went. Wu Blockchain and The Cryptonomist reported that the company directed more of its stock-sale proceeds to repurchasing STRC preferred shares than to bitcoin.
How the $283.8 million was split
Strategy sold 2,051,348 shares of Class A common stock (MSTR) through its at-the-market program, raising $283.8 million, according to The Cryptonomist. The proceeds are net of sales commissions, and the share count includes sales that had not yet settled as of November 6.
Of that total, $188.3 million went to buying back about 1.89 million STRC shares, per Wu Blockchain. Another $81.9 million bought bitcoin at an average price of $79,012, and $13.6 million went to USD cash, The Cryptonomist reported. The Cryptonomist also noted that no STRF, STRC, STRK or STRD shares were sold during the period.
Holdings and reserves
Wu Blockchain said the company's bitcoin was acquired for about $64.16 billion in total, an average of $75,456 per coin. As of November 8, Strategy also held a $4.77 billion USD Reserve and $146.2 million in USD cash, per the same report.
The Block said the holdings equal more than 4% of bitcoin's supply cap and carry roughly $500 million in paper gains. That figure is The Block's own characterisation; the other sources do not give an unrealised-gain number.
Why it matters and what is next
The filing shows the company using common-stock sales to buy back its own preferred shares at a much larger scale than it spent on bitcoin that week. The sources do not explain the reasoning behind the buybacks, so the motive is not established.
Decrypt noted the disclosure came days before MSCI is due to name companies facing index removal. The sources do not say whether Strategy is on that list, and the exact announcement date is not given. Strategy's next weekly filing, if it follows the pattern of this one, would show whether the split between bitcoin purchases and STRC repurchases continues.
Sources
- Strategy Bought 1,037 BTC Increasing Holdings to 850,364 BTC Unfolded
- Strategy Raises $283.8M From MSTR Sales, Spends More on STRC Buybacks Than Bitcoin Wu Blockchain
- ‘Connecting the dots’: Michael Saylor’s Strategy buys another 1,036 bitcoin for $82 million as holdings reach 850,364 BTC The Block
- Strategy Scoops up 1,036 BTC as Bitcoin Holdings Reach 850,364 Bitcoin.com News
- Strategy Inc’s ATM update directs $188.3M to buybacks and $81.9M to Bitcoin The Cryptonomist
- Strategy Buys $82M in Bitcoin, Buys Back $188M of STRC Decrypt
Written with AI assistance from the sources above and checked against them. Not investment advice.