MicroStrategy said it plans to continue its bitcoin buying this year, despite the crypto rout. The Wall Street Journal reported its CFO said the firm’s bitcoin approach is to buy and hold. Bitcoin has fallen below $40,000, sinking from its November high of about $69,000. Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell. MicroStrategy, the software firm led by crypto-bull Michael Saylor, said it will continue buying bitcoin this year, even amid a rout in digital assets.
Chief Financial Officer Phong Le told the Wall Street Journal that the company’s approach is to buy and hold bitcoin. “To the extent we have excess cash flows or we find other ways to raise money, we continue to put it into bitcoin,” he said.
MicroStrategy’s bullishness remains despite bitcoin sliding from its all-time high in November of about $69,000 to $36,462 early Tuesday.
Saylor previously has said he’s not concerned about bitcoin’s slump and vowed that his firm, which holds more than $5 billion worth off bitcoin, would never sell its crypto stash because its strategy is “acquiring and holding” the coin.
Le also told the Journal that MicroStrategy is considering purchasing bitcoin-backed bonds this year or next and added that the company is “constantly looking at other ways to be additive to our shareholders as it relates to bitcoin.”
Shares of the software firm have slumped 34% so far this year, with much of the slide happening since Friday. The firm has taken out billions in debt to buy up thousands of bitcoins and could face bankruptcy if the cryptocurrency falls below MicroStrategy’s average bitcoin purchase price of $30,159 for an extended period of time, Insider reported previously.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission also recently rejected the company’s crypto accounting practices, meaning MicroStrategy can’t strip out bitcoin’s price swings from its unofficial non-GAAP accounting measures it presents to investors.