Michael Saylor Selling MicroStrategy Shares Worth $216M, To Buy Bitcoin

Amid the race to get the spot Bitcoin ETF approval before the next deadline of January 10, 2023, Michael Saylor, the founder and Chairman of MicroStrategy, is selling $MSTR shares worth around $216 million, in what could be a strategic move to accumulate more of Bitcoin (BTC).

Also Read: Crypto Transactions Over $10,000 Face Stricter IRS Scrutiny Under New US Rules

Michael Saylor To Buy More BTC

According to a form 144 filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 2, 2024 on the notice of proposed sale of the shares, Saylor is selling as many as 315,000 MicroStrategy shares. This decision comes amid high gains for Microstrategy (MSTR) Stock Price in the last few weeks. In the past month, the MSTR stock went up by as much as 21.65%, as compared to the 13.30% rise in Bitcoin (BTC) Price during the same period.

During a recent interaction, Michael Saylor said he was in 2014 granted a stock option of 400,000 $MSTR shares. He said the stock option would expire in April 2024 if he does not choose to exercise it by that time. Hence, exercising this option would allow him to buy more Bitcoin personally, he explained.

MicroStrategy Stance After Bitcoin ETF Approval

Considering that MicroStrategy holds the pole position as being the largest institutional holder of BTC currently, it remains to be seen how it would compete with its peers in the spot Bitcoin ETF space, with the likes of Blackrock, Fidelity and Grayscale in the fray for the first ever such spot ETF to be approved in the United States. As of the last week of December 2023, the company holds as many as 189,150 BTC bought for a total of $5,9 billion at several stages in the last few years.

If and when approved, companies issuing the Bitcoin ETFs are likely to manage way more than what MicroStrategy is holding. Does this mean any impact on the crypto stocks and especially MicroStrategy (MSTR) Price given that the company’s investment strategy is heavily relied on Bitcoin accumulation?

Also Read: Bitcoin ETF: How Will BlackRock Balance Fees with Market Dominance?