MicroStrategy buys $615 million worth of Bitcoin; total holdings exceed Litecoin, SHIB market cap

MicroStrategy took the decision to become a Bitcoin-backed company over three years ago in August 2020, when it made its first BTC purchase. Since then, the company has been the subject of ridicule and criticism, but that never demotivated the CEO and founder, Michael Saylor, whose company is now worth more than some of the biggest cryptocurrencies.

MicroStrategy adds more Bitcoin

MicroStrategy announced on Wednesday that it had acquired an additional 14,620 BTC at an average price of $42,110, making the purchase collectively worth $615 million. This round of accumulation has now brought the company's total BTC holdings to 189,150 BTC.

While the total value of these tokens by the average purchase price of $31,168 comes up to $5.9 billion, their actual value is significantly larger. The market value of Bitcoin at the moment is $43,485, which makes the total worth of MicroStrategy held BTC over $8.22 billion. 

This shows that the company is sitting at an unrealized profit of over $2.3 billion. Thus, while the criticism might continue to shower upon MicroStrategy and Michael Saylor for building the future of the company on a highly volatile, risky asset with regulatory uncertainty, the numbers speak for themselves.

Bigger than Litecoin

Going forward, as the anticipation and hype surrounding the potential spot Bitcoin ETF approval increase, the value of BTC will grow, too. This means that the overall worth of the Bitcoin held by MicroStrategy will increase, too.

As is the company's holdings are much bigger than some of the top cryptocurrencies' market capitalizations. This includes Litecoin, which is collectively worth $5.6 billion, meme coin Shiba Inu with a market cap of $6.4 billion, and Toncoin, which is just a little under MicroStrategy, worth $7.9 billion.

Market capitalization of assets under $8 billion

While Bitcoin price might be moving sideways for now, investors should be ready for a potential rise in price at any time. Trading at $43,485, BTC is preparing for a run which could arrive before the end of the second week of January 2024.