- MicroStrategy acquired an additional 850 BTC in January, increasing its holdings to 190,000 Bitcoin, valued at over USD $8.4 billion.
- This makes the company a substantial investment option for those seeking Bitcoin exposure.
- Led by Michael Saylor, the software firm is pivoting to become a Bitcoin Development Company, aiming to innovate and leverage Bitcoin to create value for shareholders.
MicroStrategy, well-known as one of crypto’s biggest Bitcoin whales – amassed another 850 BTC in January. The software company now holds 190,000 Bitcoin, currently worth north of USD $8,4bn (AUD $12.9bn).
This amount, just under 1% of total BTC supply, is still more than all Spot Bitcoin ETFs combined. Before the arrival of the Spot ETFs, Michael Saylor, the MicroStrategy chairman, said that he sees his company as a viable investment for anyone (including companies) who wants exposure to BTC without actually holding Bitcoin.
This could be still a viable option, considering that ETFs generally have considerable fees, although most newly launched Spot Bitcoin ETFs have significantly lowered their fees during the introduction period.
Ironically, in this context, Vanguard, one of the largest holders of MicroStrategy shares, is also a staunch critic of Bitcoin – one of the few big asset managers not offering a BTC ETF.
MicroStrategy to become first company developing Bitcoin blockchain network applications and software
Now in a recent development, Michael Saylor has come out to say that his company sees itself as a Bitcoin Development Company.
So, what is that and what does this mean?
Michael Saylor is quite keen on steering MicroStrategy to be more than just a corporate investor in Bitcoin; they’re shaping up to be proper innovators in the space.
Their plan is to craft software that’s a cut above, blending artificial intelligence with their existing business intelligence tools to give their customers something special. And they’re not stopping there – they’re diving into developing applications that get the best out of Bitcoin’s base layer and second-layer solutions like Lightning.
There’s extraordinary opportunities to blend artificial intelligence with our traditional business intelligence customer base to create value and we will also continue to pursue Bitcoin development opportunities – so develop applications that create value from the Bitcoin network, either working on the base layer or working with L2 protocols like the Lightning protocol in order to do this.
Michael SaylorThis most likely comes as a move to further cement MicroStrategy as an option to get Bitcoin exposure – in direct competition with the Spot ETFs. Time will tell exactly which products Saylor and his team will come up with to create enough interest to draw new investors in and deliver an interesting alternative to Spot Bitcoin ETFs.
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