MicroStrategy Buys Just 334 Bitcoin, Spends 6x More on Buybacks: What Changed?

MicroStrategy, now called Strategy, bought just 334 Bitcoin (BTC) for $28.7 million last week. Over the same week, it spent $176.3 million buying back its own preferred stock, about six times more.

The purchase lifts holdings to exactly 848,000 BTC, according to a Monday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It is a third straight weekly buy, yet only a fifth the size of the prior week's 1,665 BTC.

Why Is Strategy Buying Back Stock Instead of Bitcoin?

The filing shows Strategy repurchased about 1.77 million shares of Stretch (STRC). That is a preferred stock that pays investors a 12% annual dividend.

Most of the money came from USD Cash, a pool of dollars the company keeps for general use. MicroStrategy drew $154.1 million from it for buybacks and only $13 million for Bitcoin.

The remaining $15.7 million for Bitcoin came from selling 92,894 new MSTR common shares.

Last week, Strategy said it would keep STRC's 12% rate until the stock trades steadily near its $100 issue price.

Meanwhile, gold advocate Peter Schiff argued over the weekend that Strategy has lost its Bitcoin-buying power because STRC no longer raises fresh money.

"There's no way that he's going to be able to start selling more Stretch; that means he's not going to be able to raise money to really start buying more Bitcoin," Schiff said.