MicroStrategy announced on Wednesday that it has purchased just over $ 1 billion in additional bitcoin just days after the completion of a new convertible debt sale.
The Virginia-based business software company said it paid an average price of $ 52,765 per bitcoin, including fees and other expenses. The acquisition of approximately 19,452 bitcoins brings MicroStrategy’s total holdings of the digital token to 90,531.
MicroStrategy unveiled its first bitcoin purchase in August, using existing cash on its balance sheet to acquire the cryptocurrency. It has since completed two convertible debt offers to raise capital to fund additional purchases. The most recent offering was completed last week and generated approximately $ 1.03 billion in net proceeds; the bonds have a coupon rate of 0%.
The news of the MicroStrategy purchase comes as bitcoin’s price rose again on Wednesday to more than $ 50,000, although it later fell below that level. The rise follows Tuesday night news from Square, which said it bought $ 170 million worth of cryptocurrency.
MicroStrategy said on Wednesday that the average purchase price of all its bitcoin purchases is $ 23,985 per digital token. It has cumulatively spent $ 2.171 billion on bitcoin. Based on bitcoin’s price Wednesday morning, the company’s stakes were worth nearly $ 4.5 billion.
Shares of MicroStrategy were up more than 7% in premarket trading. The company’s shares fell more than 20% on Tuesday as the price of bitcoin fell.
Still, MicroStrategy’s stock has been in a tear since the announcement of the first bitcoin purchase in August, up more than 400% as some investors flocked to the stock to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency.
Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, has become a leading advocate for bitcoin in recent months, calling on other companies to buy the digital token as an investment. On Tuesday, he told CNBC that he believes bitcoin will one day have a market value of $ 100 trillion. According to Coindesk, bitcoin has a total market cap of approximately $ 920.85 billion on Wednesday.
Watch CNBC’s full interview with Saylor on Tuesday below.