Strategy Restarts Bitcoin Buying With $370 Million Purchase

Strategy restarted bitcoin purchases after a 10-week gap, buying 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million as it put a balance-sheet overhaul adopted in June into practice.

The company paid an average of $80,318 per bitcoin during the week ended Aug. 30, according to its Monday filing. The entire purchase came from proceeds of common-share sales rather than the USD Reserve, which under Strategy’s board-approved policy may be used only for preferred-stock dividends and debt interest unless the board authorizes another use.

Strategy sold 4.53 million MSTR shares for net proceeds of $602.8 million during the week. It allocated $369.7 million to bitcoin, $151.8 million to repurchase STRC preferred shares, $50.7 million to STRC dividends and $30 million to its more flexible USD Cash account.

The purchase lifted Strategy’s holdings to 845,050 BTC, acquired for an aggregate $63.73 billion at an average cost of $75,412. As of Aug. 30, the company also held a $5.10 billion USD Reserve and $1.61 billion of USD Cash.

Those cash pools serve different purposes. Under the board policy, the reserve may be used only for preferred dividends and interest on outstanding debt unless directors approve another use. USD Cash can be deployed more broadly, including for bitcoin purchases, reserve expansion and other capital-management uses. Monday’s transaction increased USD Cash while leaving the reserve out of the bitcoin purchase.

A Two-Way Capital Model

The return to buying follows a period in which Strategy shifted from near-continuous accumulation to active management of both sides of its balance sheet.

Its official ledger shows that the previous purchase was reported June 22, when Strategy added 520 BTC and held 847,363 BTC. Four subsequent disclosed sales reduced holdings to 840,447 BTC by Aug. 10 before Monday’s acquisition brought the total back to 845,050 BTC.

That pattern follows the Digital Credit Capital Framework announced June 29. The framework established a board-approved USD Reserve policy, authorized preferred and common-stock repurchase programs, and allowed bitcoin sales for specified purposes including reserve funding, dividends, interest and securities buybacks.

The framework marked a change from using capital issuance mainly to accumulate bitcoin. Strategy CEO Phong Le said at the time that the company was “evolving from one-way capital issuance to active capital management,” with the ability to issue securities when financing is attractive and repurchase them when management considers buybacks accretive.

Monday’s allocation combined both approaches: Strategy issued common shares, resumed bitcoin buying and retired $151.8 million of STRC in the same week. It did not use the USD Reserve for either the bitcoin purchase or the preferred-stock repurchase.

After the transactions, Strategy had $19.09 billion of MSTR common-stock issuance capacity remaining under its at-the-market program and $364.8 million left under its Digital Credit Securities repurchase authorization.