CEO Michael Saylor announced in a tweet Monday that the latest purchase was made at an average price of $21,925 per bitcoin (BTC, +2.89%).
Microstrategy started buying large amounts of bitcoin in August via Coinbase’s institutional service, making the cryptocurrency its primary reserve asset. After exhausting its own excess cash, the company raised funds by selling $650 million worth of convertible senior notes to buy more bitcoin, causing Citigroup to downgrade its stock.
The business intelligence firm now has 70,470 BTC worth over $1.596 billion in its treasury reserve.
Saylor said in the tweet that MicroStrategy has spent $1.125 billion on bitcoin to date, at an average price of $15,964 per bitcoin.
MicroStrategy held a $650 million convertible senior note sale in early December to raise funds for this allocation. Previous purchases relied on a $500 million glut in its corporate balance sheet.
Issuing debt to buy bitcoin is a bold bet for any publicly traded company, especially for one whose business model does not even center on cryptocurrencies. CEO Michael Saylor has brushed aside all criticism nonetheless.
Shares of MicroStrategy are trading up slightly to $302 at publication time. Shares are up 111% year-to-date.