Strategy buys 267 bitcoin for $22.1 million, now holds 848,517 BTC, and spends $193 million on STRC buybacks

Strategy, the company led by Michael Saylor, bought 267 bitcoin for about $22.1 million between 12 and 16 October at an average price of $82,900, lifting its holdings to 848,517 BTC, it said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday 19 October, Cointelegraph reported. In the same week it spent $193.1 million buying back 1.94 million of its STRC preferred shares.

Strategy's week in numbers

The rupee figure uses the interbank dollar rate of about Rs 276.90 on our USD to PKR page.

Buybacks now bigger than bitcoin buying

This is the second week running in which Strategy spent far more on its own preferred stock than on bitcoin: the week before, it bought 250 BTC for $21.5 million and repurchased $192.4 million of STRC (our report). It has raised the STRC buyback authorisation to $3 billion from $2 billion, with $1.16 billion left as of Sunday. It also keeps a $4.83 billion dollar reserve for preferred dividends and debt interest, plus $447.3 million in other cash.

STRC is a preferred share that pays a monthly dividend. Buying it back below its issue value cuts Strategy's future dividend bill, which is what the company is prioritising while the bitcoin price sits well below its highs. MSTR closed down about 9.6% at $138.83 on Friday and was up more than 2.5% in pre-market trading on Monday.

What it means if you hold crypto in Pakistan

Strategy's average cost across all its coins works out to about $75,450 per bitcoin ($64.02 billion divided by 848,517), so at the latest price above $82,000 its holding is still in profit. Slower buying by the biggest corporate holder removes one source of steady demand, and US bitcoin and ether ETFs lost a combined $549 million last week, Cointelegraph reported. Follow the price on our bitcoin price page.