MicroStrategy Acquires 3K More Bitcoin Following Alleged X Account Compromise

MicroStrategy, the business intelligence firm that recently said it was transitioning to a "Bitcoin development company," announced Monday it has acquired 3,000 more Bitcoin, worth over $155 million.

The Tysons-based company acquired approximately 3,000 BTC for around $155.4 million in total, at an average price of $51,813 each, between Feb. 15 and Feb. 25, 2024, it said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing Monday. "The Bitcoin purchases were made using proceeds from the issuance and sale of Shares under the Sales Agreement and Excess Cash," it noted in the filing.

The latest purchase brings MicroStrategy's total BTC holdings to approximately 193,000 BTC, "which were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $6.09 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $31,544 per Bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses."

MicroStrategy co-founder and chairman Michael Saylor shared the news on X (formerly Twitter), gaining mixed reactions from the social media platform's users.

One said the tech mogul should "save some for the rest of us," while another said that "[Elon] Musk soon will be dethroned by Saylor if he doesn't step up his game and endorse Bitcoin and overall crypto immediately."

Saylor has said it was only "natural" for MicroStrategy to rebrand itself as a "Bitcoin development company" since its Bitcoin strategy has been successful so far. He said the company's enterprise value is now based on its BTC-related activities. The former MicroStrategy CEO is known as one of the early investors of the first decentralized cryptocurrency and has been vocal about his views on the crypto coin's potential.

Just earlier this month, MicroStrategy, the largest publicly traded corporate holder of BTC, revealed that it acquired 850 Bitcoin in January, worth around $37 million at the time. In 2023, the business software firm acquired a total of 56,650 BTC.

The latest development came about a day after MicroStrategy's X account got hacked, as per multiple cryptocurrency security analysts and firms. The account posted what appeared to be an offer for free tokens but turned out to be a trick to drain victims' wallets.

The phishing post has since been removed from the MicroStrategy X account, but prominent blockchain researcher ZachXBT said that $440,000 was already stolen "from the compromise."

Web anti-scam solution Scam Sniffer also revealed that "someone lost $424,786 worth" of cryptocurrencies "to phishing scams" minutes after the first post by @Spreek regarding the phishing post emerged.

MicroStrategy has yet to officially address the matter. International Business Times has reached out to the company for comment.