Strategy (MicroStrategy): The Complete Bitcoin Story

Short answer: MicroStrategy bought its first 21’454 BTC for $250 million on Aug 11, 2020, to protect its cash reserve from debasement. After that, the company financed more and more bitcoin with debt and new shares, came through a price crash of more than 75% in 2022, renamed itself Strategy in February 2025 and has issued preferred stock since then. On Nov 1, 2026, Strategy held 849’327 BTC, about 4% of all bitcoin that will ever exist.

Strategy's story is the best-known corporate bitcoin bet. In six years it shows almost everything that can happen with bitcoin on a company balance sheet: paper gains, paper losses, new sources of money and new obligations. Here you go through it year by year.

This page tells the story. What the stock is worth today and how much bitcoin is in it is covered in the profile Strategy stock (MSTR). How debt and preferred stock are stacked today is explained in the article Strategy's capital structure.

The holdings at a glance

Before going through the individual years, here are the key dates. The cost basis is the average price Strategy paid for all bitcoin bought up to that point.

Holdings and cost basis: Strategy's annual reports (10-K) and 8-K filings. Prices: bitcoin-powerlaw.com daily closes.

2020: The first purchase

In the summer of 2020, MicroStrategy, a business analytics software house, had several hundred million dollars in cash. Central banks were printing money in large amounts during the Covid crisis, and interest rates were at zero. CEO Michael Saylor saw the cash losing purchasing power every year.

On Aug 11, 2020, the company reported to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it had bought 21’454 BTC for $250 million. Bitcoin became its main reserve. In September further purchases from its own cash followed, and the holdings rose to 38’250 BTC.

In December 2020 came the step that changed the company: it issued a convertible note of $650 million at 0.75% interest, due 2025. A convertible note is a loan that the lenders may later swap into shares if the stock has risen a lot. All of the money went into bitcoin. From then on, MicroStrategy no longer bought only with its own money, but with borrowed money.

At the end of 2020 the company held about 70’469 BTC, bought for $1.125 billion. Bitcoin stood at almost $29’000, and the holdings were well in profit.

2021: Debt and new shares

In 2021 MicroStrategy expanded its sources of money:

1. February 2021: a second convertible note of $1.05 billion without interest, due 2027.
2. June 2021: a bond of $500 million at 6.125% interest, due 2028. Unlike the convertible notes, it was secured by company assets, including bitcoin bought after it was issued.
3. New shares sold directly on the exchange, a so-called at-the-market program. In 2021 it brought in about $1.0 billion.

With this money the company bought about 53’922 BTC in 2021 at an average of $48’710. Bitcoin reached its then all-time high of $67’525 on Nov 8, 2021. At the end of 2021 MicroStrategy held about 124’391 BTC.

2022: The crash and a new CEO

In 2022 the bear market came. Bitcoin fell from its November 2021 high to $15’784 on Nov 21, 2022, a drop of 77%. MicroStrategy had paid about $30’100 on average. At the end of 2022 the roughly 132’500 BTC were worth about $2.2 billion; the company had bought them for $3.99 billion.

Three events shaped the year:

• March 2022: a loan with bitcoin as collateral. The subsidiary MacroStrategy borrowed $205 million from Silvergate Bank and pledged bitcoin worth about $820 million. It used the money to buy more bitcoin. As the price fell, many investors worried that the bank could seize the bitcoin. That never happened. In March 2023 MicroStrategy repaid the loan early with about $161 million.
• August 2022: Saylor gives up the CEO role. On Aug 2, 2022, the company announced that Michael Saylor would become Executive Chairman from Aug 8, 2022. Phong Le became the new CEO. Saylor remained chairman of the board and kept oversight of the bitcoin strategy.
• December 2022: the first sale. On Dec 22, 2022, the company sold about 704 BTC for $11.8 million. The reason was tax: it wanted to offset the loss against earlier gains. Two days later it bought 810 BTC back.

The company was never forced to give up bitcoin that year. The convertible notes had no bitcoin as collateral, and they still had years to run until maturity. That time was the most important protection.

Rule of thumb: Debt without bitcoin as collateral and with a long term lets you sit out a crash. A loan with bitcoin as collateral, by contrast, can force a sale.

2023: Quietly buying on

In 2023 bitcoin recovered from about $16’500 to over $42’000. MicroStrategy kept buying steadily, mainly with new shares. The holdings rose to about 189’150 BTC at an average of $31’168.

The market again valued the company above its bitcoin. That matters for the whole story: if a share costs more than the bitcoin it contains on paper, the company can sell new shares and use the proceeds to buy more bitcoin per share. How this premium, the mNAV, has moved quarter by quarter since 2022 is shown in the article mNAV explained.

2024: The big acceleration

In January 2024 the SEC approved the first spot bitcoin ETFs in the US. Bitcoin rose, and the MicroStrategy stock rose even more.

• New convertible notes. From March 2024 the company issued several low-interest convertible notes. With money from them it redeemed the 2021 secured bond early on Sep 26, 2024. Since then Strategy has had no debt secured by bitcoin.
• Stock split. In August 2024 the company split each share into ten.
• The 21/21 plan. On Oct 30, 2024, MicroStrategy announced it would raise $42 billion for bitcoin over three years: $21 billion through shares and $21 billion through bonds and similar securities.
• BTC Yield. In the same year the company introduced the "BTC Yield" metric: how fast bitcoin per share grows. How to recalculate it is shown in the article Calculating a company's BTC Yield.

In the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, the company bought 195’250 BTC for $18.06 billion. Over the whole year 258’320 BTC were added. The holdings rose to 447’470 BTC, and the cost basis per bitcoin to $62’503. The stock reached its highest closing price to date on Nov 20, 2024.

2025: New name, new securities

On Feb 5, 2025, the company announced that it would now be called Strategy. Legally it is the same company with the same ticker, MSTR. Since then Strategy has described itself as a "Bitcoin Treasury Company", a company whose main purpose is holding and growing bitcoin.

What was new above all was how it raised money. Instead of only shares and convertible notes, Strategy issued five preferred stocks in 2025. They pay a fixed or variable dividend, have no maturity and rank between the lenders and the ordinary shareholders.

Source: Strategy, issue dates from bitcoin-powerlaw.com's data (as of Nov 6, 2026).

How the fixed-rate securities differ and which suits whom is set out in the comparison of STRF, STRK, STRD and STRE.

The accounting changed too. Since 2025 Strategy has valued its bitcoin at market value. Profits and losses now swing with the bitcoin price every quarter, up as well as down.

Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $124’753 on Oct 6, 2025. Strategy bought throughout the year, 225’030 BTC in total. At the end of 2025 it held 672’500 BTC, bought for $50.44 billion. Towards the end of the year, though, bitcoin fell sharply, and the stock traded below the value of its bitcoin for the first time since 2022.

2026: Bitcoin is sold too

2026 became a difficult year for Strategy. Bitcoin fell to about $58’600 by the end of June 2026. At the same time the annual dividends on the preferred stocks rose to well over a billion dollars. The software business cannot carry that.

Strategy responded in two ways. It kept selling new shares and set part of the proceeds aside as a dollar reserve. And in the second and third quarters of 2026 it sold a combined 6’947 BTC to pay dividends and to buy back STRC below par. Unlike in 2022, this time it was not about taxes but about ongoing payments.

Even so, the holdings kept growing. On Nov 1, 2026, Strategy held 849’327 BTC, bought for $64.08 billion at an average of $75’451. But because the number of shares rose faster than the holdings, bitcoin per share fell in 2026. What that means for shareholders is worked through in the profile Strategy stock (MSTR).

What the story shows

Six years of Strategy boil down to a few lessons that apply to every bitcoin company:

• The type of debt decides. In 2022 the company survived because its large debts had no bitcoin collateral and long terms. It paid off its only bitcoin-backed loan early.
• The stock's premium is the engine. As long as investors paid more than the bitcoin value, bitcoin per share grew. When the premium disappeared, as in 2022 and 2026, raising new money became expensive.
• Ongoing costs change the model. Convertible notes cost hardly any interest. Preferred stocks pay 8 to 12% a year. With them came, in 2026, the first sale of bitcoin to cover ongoing obligations.
• One person shapes everything. Even after 2022, Michael Saylor sets the bitcoin strategy and, with his super-voting shares, holds a large share of the votes.

Whether a treasury stock or bitcoin directly suits you better depends on when you buy and on your nerves. The comparison Bitcoin stock or bitcoin? calculates this for every purchase day since 2020.