(Bloomberg) -- Michael Saylor’s Strategy said it plans to issue up to $21 billion of preferred stock and use the proceeds to buy more Bitcoin and for other general corporate purposes.
The 8% series A perpetual-strike preferred shares, which are convertible into class A common stock, will be sold in an “at the market offering” program, the company said in a press release.
The enterprise software company turned leveraged Bitcoin proxy controlled by co-founder and chairman Saylor has been buying Bitcoin on a frequent basis since late October. Strategy also said Monday that it didn’t buy any Bitcoin during the period from March 3 through March 9, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm now owns about 499,096 Bitcoin, or about $42 billion worth.
Strategy’s announcement comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Thursday creating a strategic US Bitcoin reserve and a separate stockpile of other tokens, to be capitalized with crypto forfeited in legal proceedings. Saylor was among the industry officials who attended what the White House described as a roundtable gathering on the plan Friday.
The executive order authorized the Treasury and Commerce departments to develop “budget-neutral strategies” for buying more Bitcoin for the reserve with no incremental costs to taxpayers. The government will not acquire additional crypto for the separate stockpile of other digital assets beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings.
Shares of Strategy have surged over 2,200% since Saylor began investing the company’s cash into Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation in 2020. Bitcoin is up over 600% during the same period.
The company later shifted to using equity and share sales to fund the purchases. Strategy unveiled a plan in October to raise $42 billion of capital through 2027 to fund Bitcoin purchases using at-the-market stock sales and fixed-income securities.
Hedge funds have been driving some of the demand for the convertible debt that’s been doled out in public offerings, as they seek out Strategy for trades that incorporate buying the bonds and selling the shares short, essentially betting on the underlying stock’s volatility.
