MicroStrategy Sells Bitcoin for the First Time -Then Purchases Even More

MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin reserves, announced on Wednesday that it traded some of its holdings for the first time on December 22.

However, the company and its famously bullish co-founder Michael Saylor have not abandoned Bitcoin, since MicroStrategy has since purchased even more BTC.

MicroStrategy sold 704 BTC for approximately $11.8 million on December 22, according to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today—a move that may benefit the company in terms of tax liabilities, given how much value BTC has lost since MicroStrategy first began acquiring it in 2020.

“MicroStrategy plans to carry back the capital losses resulting from this transaction against previous capital gains, to the extent such carrybacks are available under the federal income tax laws currently in effect, which may generate a tax benefit,” the company wrote.

However, on December 24, the business purchased 810 BTC for around $13.6 million. MicroStrategy has now added nearly 2,500 BTC to its overall count since the beginning of last month, when combined with another 2,395 BTC that the company stated it purchased between November 1 and December 21 for a total of $42.8 million.

According to CoinGecko, the company’s total Bitcoin holdings are roughly 132,500 BTC, valued at slightly over $2.2 billion based on the current Bitcoin price of about $16,735.

MicroStrategy’s holdings of the major cryptocurrency continue to grow, but they are now significantly underwater. The company stated that it had spent approximately $4.03 billion on BTC purchases to date, at a per-coin price of $30,397.

Saylor, a well-known Bitcoin maximalist, co-founded MicroStrategy in 1989 and remained as its CEO until August of this year. He stood down and became executive chairman, claiming that the move will allow him to focus even more on the firm’s “Bitcoin acquisition strategy.” Phong Le was appointed CEO in addition to his current position as president of MicroStrategy.

Following Saylor’s employment change, Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine revealed in late August that he had brought civil charges against MicroStrategy and Saylor for alleged tax evasion. Racine stated that the corporation assisted its creator in “evading taxes he lawfully owes on hundreds of millions of dollars” generated while residing in Washington, DC.

Saylor and MicroStrategy both denied the allegations, with a company representative told Decrypt that the attorney general’s claims “are incorrect, and we will defend strongly against this overreach.”

In September, the corporation stated that it intends to sell up to $500 million in Class A company shares to fund more Bitcoin purchases. According to today’s SEC filing, MicroStrategy has sold approximately $46.4 million in shares as part of that endeavor.

According to CoinGecko data, MicroStrategy holds much more Bitcoin than any other public corporation. Marathon Digital, the second-largest holder, has slightly over 10,000 BTC on its balance sheet, while crypto exchange Coinbase is third with 9,000 BTC.

Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microstrategy-sells-off-bitcoin-first-162620178.html