Strategy buys $2.54 billion worth of Bitcoin in its biggest 2024 one-off purchase
Strategy said Monday it made its largest Bitcoin purchase in 16 months, buying about 34,200 BTC for $2.54 billion last week as investors piled into the company's flagship preferred shares ahead of an upcoming dividend.
The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm said the purchase lifted its Bitcoin holdings to roughly 815,000 BTC. With Bitcoin trading around $75,400 at the time, the company put the transaction's value at about $6.14 billion, according to CoinGecko.
Strategy also disclosed it has issued nearly $2.2 billion of STRC, its preferred dividend stock. STRC pays an 11.5% monthly dividend and targets a trading price near $100. The ex-dividend date passed last Wednesday, meaning buyers after that date will not receive the next scheduled payout.
STRC traded at or above $100 for 10 straight sessions ahead of the ex-dividend date, pointing to sustained demand. The preferred stock now carries a market capitalization of about $8.5 billion.
Andy Constant, former head of strategy and founder of Damped Spring Advisors, said STRC appears to be drawing dividend-arbitrage activity, in which traders buy just before the ex-dividend date and sell soon after. In an X post last week, he wrote that traders he knows went long STRC with leverage despite having no prior history in dividend arbitrage.
Strategy shares fell 2% to $163 before Monday's open, per Yahoo Finance. The stock jumped nearly 12% on Friday to $166 after the company reported a profit on its balance sheet for the first time in months.
On Myriad, a prediction market owned by Decrypted's parent company Dastan, traders put the odds at 13% that Strategy will reduce its shares this year. On Feb. 1, after the company's stock reserves dropped sharply, the market implied a 31% chance Strategy would tap those reserves.
On Sunday, co-founder and executive chairman Michael Saylor urged followers on X to "think outside the box," a remark taken as a nod to the scale of recent buying. A day earlier, he had played down the Middle East conflict and wrote, "It is impossible to block Bitcoin."
After last week's STRC ex-dividend date, Strategy proposed shifting the preferred dividend payout to every two months. Saylor said in an X post that the proposals are intended to stabilize prices, reduce cyclical volatility, improve liquidity and support demand growth.
Strategy's latest Bitcoin buy is its largest since November 2024. The company also recently said it sold $3 billion of convertible notes due in 2029, which allow holders to convert into common shares once the stock reaches $672.40 per share.
