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Bitcoin’s fourth-largest owner MicroStrategy has stopped buying the cryptocurrency for the first time in three months.
After a 12-week streak of buying bitcoin, MicroStrategy has pressed pause on buying bitcoin after bringing its total holdings up to 471,107 bitcoin since November 11, according to a post on X from founder and chairman Michael Saylor. That makes it the fourth-largest owner of bitcoin in the world.
“Last week, MicroStrategy did not sell any shares of class A common stock under its at-the-market equity offering program, and did not purchase any bitcoin,” the founder wrote on X.
Last week, MicroStrategy did not sell any shares of class A common stock under its at-the-market equity offering program, and did not purchase any bitcoin. As of 2/2/2025, we hodl 471,107 $BTC acquired for ~$30.4 billion at ~$64,511 per bitcoin. $MSTR https://t.co/QTBWl8KlNv
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) February 3, 2025
A CoinDesk analyst has speculated that the break could have been sparked by its earnings report coming on Wednesday, February 5. Public companies will often employ a ‘blackout period’ ahead of earnings releases to prevent insider trading. Of course, without confirmation from someone within MicroStrategy, that theory is just speculation for now.
MicroStrategy and blackout periods
Depending on the company, such periods can last anywhere from a few days, weeks, or even months. In this case, MicroStrategy might be arranging a brief one to protect its substantial bitcoin assets that make up the majority of its portfolio. Saylor didn’t give any indication for the reason behind the pause on acquiring bitcoin.
Saylor often teases moves made by the company on social media, offering transparency ahead of major bitcoin purchases.
Rumors of a blackout period started circulating as early as December 2024. However, venture capitalist and Framework Ventures founder Vance Spencer then claimed that Saylor and MicroStrategy would pause bitcoin purchases throughout January, something that turned out to be false. It could be that the blackout was delayed until now, however, closer to the earnings report release.
Last week, MicroStrategy also announced a preferred share offering of roughly $250 million to purchase even more bitcoin, closely followed with a decision to double that amount as the company sold around 7.3 million shares of the cryptocurrency.
Featured image: Midjourney
