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One company now owns more bitcoin than any other country
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A US software company now has more cryptocurrency of any single country after taking it bitcoin holdings at more than $14 billion (£11 billion).
In its latest financial results, MicroStrategy announced that it purchased 25,250 bitcoins in the first four months of 2024, bringing the total to 214,400 BTC – more than 1% of all bitcoins in existence.
The company’s bitcoin holdings make it the largest bitcoin-holding company in the world, with more than 10 times more than the second largest public company holding bitcoin: mining company Marathon Digital Holdings.
MicroStrategy’s latest purchase means it also owns more bitcoin than the United States, which has 207,189 BTC worth $13.5 billion, according to data collected from Bitcoin Treasures.
“It is through our unique bitcoin strategy and our strong track record as an operating company that we now hold 214,400 bitcoins at an average purchase price of $35,180 per bitcoin,” said MicroStrategy CEO Phong Le.
Bitcoin is currently trading at around $64,000, meaning that MicroStrategy has earned over $6 billion from its cryptocurrency investment.
It seems unlikely that MicroStrategy will profit from its investment, with founder Michael Saylor frequently posting images of diamond hands on X (formerly Twitter), signaling an intention not to sell despite price fluctuations.
“When MicroStrategy adopted a Bitcoin strategy, it anticipated volatility and structured its balance sheet so it could continue to #HODL despite adversity,” Saylor he wrote in 2022 during a severe recession in the cryptocurrency market.
On Monday, with the price of bitcoin once again nearing all-time highs, Mr. Saylor he wrote: “Bet on the winner #Bitcoin”.
The price has been supported by two major events in the crypto space in recent months.
The first was approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). the first spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for bitcoin in January. This brought billions of dollars of institutional investment to the market for the first time.
The second was an event known as a “halving,” which takes place roughly every four years and sees earnings from bitcoin mining halved. This decrease in supply, combined with increased demand, saw bitcoin hit a new all-time high in March above $73,000.