Strategy Suspends Bitcoin Purchases and Repurchases Preferred Shares for $204.9 Million

Strategy Company, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, did not purchase any Bitcoin last week—marking the first break in a series of weekly purchases since mid-September. Simultaneously, the company did not sell shares through its ATM program during the period from October 19 to 25, according to filings with the SEC. Strategy reported this on Monday.

Instead of buying Bitcoin, the company spent $204.9 million in cash to repurchase 2,068,459 STRC preferred shares—variable yield. This is more than $193.1 million the previous week and $192.4 million two weeks earlier. After the buyback under the $3 billion program, increased from $2 billion a week ago, $956.8 million remains. A separate buyback program for MSTR common shares retains $1 billion in reserve.

The pause followed a series of small Bitcoin purchases. The previous week, Strategy acquired 267 BTC for $22.1 million, before that—250 BTC for $21.5 million, and earlier spent $29 million in a week when it reported a profit of $21 billion for the third quarter.

Currently, Strategy holds 848,517 BTC, purchased in total for $64.02 billion at an average price of $75,446 per coin. Cash reserves have decreased to $242.4 million from $447.3 million the previous week, while a separate dollar reserve intended for dividend payments on preferred shares and interest on debt remained at $4.83 billion.

MSCI Context

The pause coincided with the risk of Strategy being excluded from widely tracked MSCI equity indexes. On October 15, the index provider finalized a rule stating that "non-operating companies"—those whose balance sheet is defined by a single asset—will not be able to be included in the Global Investable Market Indexes from the close of November 30. MSCI will publish the list of affected companies on November 11. The exclusion will force funds tracking the indexes to sell the corresponding securities. Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor urged MSCI to abandon the rule, which he called "discriminatory."