Michael Saylor is a die-hard bitcoin evangelist.
For those who follow the billionaire on the social network Twitter, it is impossible to know that bitcoin (BTC), the most popular cryptocurrency, is going through a turbulent period marked by a drop in value of more than 72% since its November all-time high.
"There's an awful lot of people around the world that need #bitcoin," Saylor, who is now executive chairman of MicroStrategy (MSTR), the software company he founded, posted on Sept. 19.
On the same day, BTC prices fell below the symbolic threshold of $19,000. If the cryptocurrency is trading at the time of writing around $19,085.34, according to data firm CoinGecko, prices are down 72.4% from the all-time high of $69,044.77 set on November 10.
Long Term Bitcoin Believer
In view of these figures, it appears that Saylor seems to live in an alternative reality, which many comments to his tweets usually point out.
"It just feels like you are in a therapy session every time I read these tweets - Trying to convince yourself that its OK to keep holding every though you know you've made a terrible mistake," commented a user.
But the billionaire seems to believe in the rebound of BTC. He is thus betting on the future and ignoring the present and even the short-term future because the increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve to fight against inflation, which is at its highest in 40 years, may plunge the economy into recession, some economists warn. These fears are pushing investors to liquidate risky assets such as cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin.
MicroStrategy has just acquired additional bitcoins, Saylor has just announced.
"MicroStrategy has purchased an additional 301 bitcoins for ~$6.0 million at an average price of ~$19,851 per #bitcoin," the crypto enthusiast posted on Sept. 20. "As of 9/19/22 @MicroStrategy holds ~130,000 bitcoins acquired for ~$3.98 billion at an average price of ~$30,639 per bitcoin."
The new bitcoins were purchased between Aug. 2 and Sept. 19 at an average price of approximately $19,851 per bitcoin, including fees and other expenses, the company confirmed in a regulatory filing.
It added that it used excess cash to make the purchase.
Additional Impairment Charges?
It seems that MicroStrategy has already seen the value of its new bitcoins decrease in view of the price at which the cryptocurrency currently sells. If this trend continues, this will increase the impairment charges linked to its portfolio of digital assets that the firm should register for the current quarter.
The company said it took BTC-related asset impairment charges of $2 billion in the second quarter, which weighed on results. Indeed, MicroStrategy recorded a net loss of $1.06 billion in the second quarter.
MicroStrategy shares which are impacted by the evolution of bitcoin prices are down 62.1% since January.
But nothing seems to discourage the firm, which recently announced that it planned to issue and sell up to $500 million in stock.
"We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of bitcoin," the company said.
