Strategy has resumed buying Bitcoin after a two-week pause, acquiring 950 BTC for $75.7m while spending a further $174m on repurchasing its STRC preferred stock.
The purchase, made between 14 and 20 September, took Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings to 846,000 BTC, according to a Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on 21 September.
The company paid an average of $79,670 per Bitcoin, including fees and expenses. Its total holdings have now cost $63.80bn, with an average acquisition price of $75,416 per BTC.
Bitcoin was trading at about $84,925 when the figures were published, giving Strategy’s holdings an estimated market value of $71.85bn and an unrealised gain of approximately $8.05bn based on its reported acquisition cost.
Strategy shares rose 7.4% to $165.20 in Monday’s pre-market trading, while STRC was up 0.35% at $98.85.
The latest purchase ended two reporting periods in which Strategy did not add to its Bitcoin position. The company’s previous acquisition came at the end of August, when it bought 4,603 BTC for $369.7m at an average price of $80,318.
That transaction increased its holdings from 840,447 BTC to 845,050 BTC and was funded through Strategy’s at-the-market common stock programme. The company sold 4.53 million MSTR shares for $602.8m in net proceeds, allocating $369.7m to Bitcoin and $151.8m to STRC repurchases.
During the subsequent two-week pause in Bitcoin buying, Strategy focused on its preferred securities. It spent $176.3m repurchasing 1.81 million STRC shares in the first week, then a further $139.3m on 1.42 million shares in the following period. No Bitcoin was purchased and no shares were sold through its at-the-market programmes during either period.
At the same time, Strategy’s board doubled the Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Programme from $1bn to $2bn.
STRC, formally called Strategy’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, has a stated value of $100 per share. Strategy has used buybacks and its dividend policy to help keep the security close to that level.
The company had spent about $950.8m repurchasing almost 9.96 million STRC shares between 20 July and 13 September. The stock had previously fallen near $70 before recovering above $99 during intraday trading earlier this month.
With the latest purchases, total spending on the current STRC buyback programme moved above $1bn. Strategy said buying the shares below their $100 stated value allows it to retire preferred securities for less than that amount while reducing future dividend obligations.
Strategy retained $875.1m of authorisation for further STRC repurchases. Its separate $1bn MSTR common stock buyback authorisation remained unused.
The latest Bitcoin purchase and STRC repurchases were funded from existing cash. Strategy made no sales through its at-the-market offering programmes between 14 and 20 September, spending a combined $249.7m.
Its deployable USD Cash fell almost 20%, from $1.30bn a week earlier to $1.05bn on 20 September. The balance had been $1.44bn on 7 September and $1.61bn at the end of August.
Strategy’s separate USD Reserve declined from $5.10bn to $5.04bn after $57.4m was used for preferred dividends and debt interest. The company held about $6.09bn in USD assets at the end of the period.
Elsewhere, Strive acquired 1,355 BTC, taking its Bitcoin treasury to 26,355 BTC. Earlier this month, it reached 25,000 BTC after buying 469 BTC for about $36.6m at an average price of $77,954, funded through SATA preferred stock proceeds.
Strive had also bought 1,800 BTC for roughly $143m in late August, taking its holdings to 23,156 BTC before later purchases increased the total.
ASST shares rose 6.44% to $32.03 in Monday’s pre-market trading.
