Michael Saylor, the co-founder of MicroStrategy, has seen a significant increase in his personal wealth, with an approximate gain of $700 million following a three-day surge in the company’s stock and Bitcoin prices.
This comes as MicroStrategy recently increased its Bitcoin holding by 3,000 BTC, taking the total of its holdings to 193,000 BTC.
MicroStrategy, whose share value is closely linked to its substantial Bitcoin holdings, experienced a 10% surge in share price on Wednesday. This rise is part of a 40% rally over three days.
Saylor, holding a 12% stake in MicroStrategy and owning 17,732 Bitcoins personally, saw his wealth increase by approximately $700 million from Sunday to Wednesday. The combined value of his stake in MicroStrategy and his Bitcoin holdings rose from $2.27 billion to $2.96 billion during this period.
Michael Saylor, who founded MicroStrategy in 1989, has emerged as one of Bitcoin’s most vocal advocates. In 2023, he co-authored a book titled “What is Money?” on cryptocurrency.
MicroStrategy adopted a Bitcoin-centric investment strategy in 2020, led by Saylor, to hedge against inflation and diversify its cash reserves. Despite experiencing unrealized losses during the crypto winter, when Bitcoin’s value dropped below $30,000, Saylor and MicroStrategy remained committed to the strategy, opting to acquire more BTC rather than sell.
Saylor has emphasized that MicroStrategy has no plans to liquidate its holdings, adopting the stance that “Bitcoin is the exit strategy.” During MicroStrategy’s recent earnings call on February 7, Chief Financial Officer Andrew Kang highlighted the company’s status as the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin globally.
This week’s significant catalyst has been the rally of Bitcoin to its highest level since November 2021. Bitcoin surged to approximately $64,000 on Wednesday, notable increase from $51,500 early Monday. However, there was a pullback to around $60,000 later in the day following glitches in Coinbase’s app, which caused many users to see a zero balance in their accounts.
The demand for the primary cryptocurrency has been primarily driven by spot Bitcoin ETFs, which now collectively hold more BTC than MicroStrategy. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas revealed that these newly listed Bitcoin ETFs surpassed the $2 billion mark in trading volume on February 27 for the second consecutive day, reaching an all-time high of $2.4 billion on February 26.
Furthermore, the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, has seen significant success, particularly with its iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), which recorded a trading volume of $1.3 billion on February 27, breaking its record.