MicroStrategy’s Saylor Lays Out Ways Firm Could Generate Yield From Its Massive Bitcoin Holdings

The CEO discussed several ways the software company could produce income from the 122,478 bitcoin on its balance sheet.

AccessTimeIconDec 17, 2021 at 9:53 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 5:52 p.m. UTC

MicroStrategy (MSTR) officials outlined some potential ways the company could generate yield from its enormous holdings of bitcoin during a virtual investor day Thursday.

  • MicroStrategy, which makes business analytics software but whose market cap largely reflects its bitcoin holdings, owned 122,478 bitcoin as of Dec. 10, according to the company’s presentation. Those bitcoin were purchased since the third quarter of last year for roughly $3.7 billion in total, and are now worth roughly $5.8 billion.
  • To generate income from its bitcoin, MicroStrategy could lend some portion of it to a “trustworthy counterparty,” CEO Michael Saylor said.
  • The company could also put its bitcoin into some form of partnership with a big tech company or bank. “You could think of that as putting a lien on it,” Saylor explained.
  • MicroStrategy might also look to put a mortgage against its bitcoin, generating long-term debt under “favorable circumstances.”
  • Finally, MicroStrategy could develop “some kind of interesting application” for its bitcoin, said the CEO.
  • Saylor noted in his presentation that no formal steps had been taken on any of these potential initiatives.

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Michael Bellusci is CoinDesk's crypto reporter focused on public companies and digital asset firms.


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