Strategy Resumes Bitcoin Buys With $66M Purchase

Strategy bought 811 BTC for $65.5 million last week, the company said on Monday, resuming its Bitcoin purchases after a one-week pause.

The Bitcoin treasury firm paid an average of $80,846 per coin between October 26 and November 1, funding the purchases by selling 1,178,552 shares of MSTR stock for $164 million in net proceeds, according to an SEC filing. Of that, $65.5 million went to Bitcoin and $98.5 million to its USD Cash account.

Strategy now holds 849,327 BTC, acquired for a total of $64.08 billion at an average of about $75,451 per coin.

The company also bought back 2,092,035 shares of STRC, its variable-rate preferred stock, for $208.2 million, all paid from USD Cash. That is up from $204.9 million the previous week, when Strategy paused its Bitcoin buying for the first time since mid-September. The week before that, it bought 267 BTC for $22.1 million.

USD Cash, the pool Strategy keeps for general purposes including buying Bitcoin, fell to $132.7 million from $242.4 million a week earlier. Its separate USD Reserve, which covers preferred dividends and interest on its debt, stood at $4.79 billion after paying out $43.4 million in dividends. About $748.6 million remains available under its program for repurchasing preferred stock.

Strategy put its combined USD assets at $4.9 billion and its "USD Duration," its measure of how long those assets could cover dividends and interest, at 3.3 years, it tweeted.

The purchases come as STRC moves to a new dividend schedule. Shareholders approved daily dividends on Strategy's four preferred stocks last week, with STRC's first daily record date falling on November 1.

Mizuho Financial Group maintained its Outperform rating and $165 price target on MSTR following Strategy's third-quarter earnings call, pointing to a stronger balance sheet with net leverage down to 2.4% from 8.4%, according to a summary of the note. But analyst Dan Dolev also flagged dilution concerns, noting that Bitcoin per share has fallen 3.7% this year.