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MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin conviction ‘strong’ as it returns to profit in Q1: CEO

May 2, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Andrew Kang

The one-time income tax benefit helped the firm reach a profit of $94 million in the first quarter of 2023.

Business intelligence platform MicroStrategy has reiterated its commitment to its Bitcoin (BTC) investment strategy after turning its first quarterly profit since 2020.

The Michael Saylor-founded firm went back into the green in the first quarter of 2023 with a profit of $94 million, which was largely attributed to a one-time income tax benefit of $453.2 million.

Phong Lee, the firm’s chief executive officer explained in the May 1 statement that MicroStrategy’s “conviction” in its Bitcoin (BTC) investment strategy is as “strong” as ever:

“The conviction in our bitcoin strategy remains strong as the digital asset environment continues to mature.”

In addition to the tax benefit, the firm cashed in $121.9 million in revenue, up 2.2% from the same time last year.

Please join the @MicroStrategy management team at 5pm ET as we discuss our Q1 2023 $MSTR financial results and answer questions about our business and outlook for #BusinessIntelligence and #Bitcoin.https://t.co/pHrjKvWsDU
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) May 1, 2023

Andrew Kang, the firm’s chief financial officer said the firm also managed to reduce its leverage by repaying its $161 million Bitcoin-backed loan from the now-collapsed Silverage Bank:

“In Q1, we strengthened our capital structure by reducing leverage by fully repaying our bitcoin-backed loan.”

As per previous SEC filings, the business intelligence firm bought 7,500 BTC in Q1 across two purchases on March 23 and April 5 for a total of $179 million.

*MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin accumulation by quarter. Source: MicroStrategy*

The firm now holds 140,000 BTC, which were collectively purchased at an average cost of about $29,803.

The firm’s turn to profit comes as BTC managed to rise 72% over the first quarter to about $28,300.

With the price of BTC at $28,100 currently, MicroStrategy is down around 5.7% on its Bitcoin investment.

The firm was however in the “green” for a period of time last month when BTC skyrocketed to its most recent high of $30,980 on April 15.

Since @MicroStrategy adopted a #Bitcoin Strategy: pic.twitter.com/rrYTbvOkUS
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) May 1, 2023

The software analytics firm began investing its cash reserves into BTC on March 5, 2021 when it bought 91,064 BTC — 65% of its total holdings today.

Saylor recently revealed that MicroStrategy integrated Bitcoin Lightning into his corporate email address.

The Bitcoin-savvy firm is also in the process of developing a Bitcoin layer-2 Lightning Network-based Software as a Service tool for corporations.

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Institutional crypto funds see largest capital inflows for 3 months

March 29, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin investment

The data from CoinShares shows a weekly inflow of $193 million, with more than half of that figure going to Bitcoin alone. Solana is also getting attention and broke a record in the process.

CoinShares data revealed on Tuesday that institutional investments into cryptocurrencies are at the highest levels in three months, a sharp rise from the previous week which saw outflows of $47 million.

The Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report revealed that investment products for digital assets saw total inflows of $193 million last week, a level not seen since early December 2021.

The last time investment levels were near the current figure was in the week ending on Dec. 3, which saw $184 million worth of inflows.

The fund flows had a big focus on Bitcoin (BTC), with just over 50% of the capital going into products based on BTC, which saw inflows totaling $98 million.

Solana (SOL) was runner-up, seeing $87 million inflows for the week, a figure that CoinShares says is the “largest single week of inflows on record.” SOL-based funds now represent 36% of assets under management with institutional firms, the largest altcoin after Ether (ETH). ETH-based funds saw inflows last week totaling just $10.2 million.

Europe was the significant contributor, with firms seemingly bolstered by the news that the bill banning proof-of-work (PoW) mining did not pass. 76% of inflows, or about $147 million, came from the region last week

The figures from the report are in sharp contrast to the data the week prior, which saw $49.4 million withdrawn from BTC and ETH from mostly North American firms with concerns regarding increasing crypto regulations.

The inflows of cash by institutional firms correlate with the price of Bitcoin seeing a recent surge above $48,500 at one point. The same was true with Ether which broke out over $3,300.

Last week, executives from crypto firms Nexo and Amber Group discussed the ”exponential” growth of institutional investment into cryptocurrencies at the Blockchain Africa Conference 2022, saying that while there‘s an increase in institutional onboarding, there might still be barriers to entry. Kalin Metodiev, co-founder and managing partner at Nexo, said most firms may claim that the crypto market is “still too volatile.”

Grayscale gears up for legal battle with SEC over Bitcoin ETF

March 29, 2022 Coin Telegraph

bitcoin etf

“I think all options are on the table,” said the Grayscale CEO, adding that the company has put its “full resources” into converting its flagship Bitcoin trust.

Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein said the firm is gearing up for a legal fight if Grayscale’s Bitcoin Spot ETF product is denied by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, March 29, Sonnenshein was asked if he would consider the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) lawsuit option if the application for its Bitcoin Spot ETF was denied by the financial regulator.

“I think all options are on the table,” he responded, highlighting the importance of continuing to advocate for investors. The next decision date for the approval or denial of the investment product is July 6, 2022, it was previously delayed in February, and was originally filed in October 2021.

“The Grayscale team has been putting the full resources of our firm behind converting GBTC, our flagship fund, into an ETF. It’s really important that investors know that we have and will continue to advocate for them.”

Grayscale announced in October 2021 that it was planning to convert its Bitcoin Trust, GBTC to a Bitcoin (BTC)-settled ETF. The SEC delayed a decision to approve the product in December 2021, citing that a longer period was needed to consider the proposed changes, their action was repeated in February.

The SEC opened the changes proposed by Grayscale to public feedback. The feedback received by the regulator showed that 95% of respondents were in support of the conversion, according to an analysis taken in February. Grayscale dedicated a portion of its website to encouraging investors to submit comments to the SEC.

“GBTC today is owned by investors in all 50 states, and there are actually now over 800,000 accounts in the U.S. all waiting patiently to have it converted into an ETF,” Sonnenshein said.

“It was really a very exciting announcement that we now have Bitcoin futures ETFs out in the market, but unfortunately, that's forced investors into those Bitcoin futures products, because those are the only ones that exist.”

Sonnenshein added that Grayscale was encouraged by the SEC’s support for crypto exchanges in registering with the regulator, as well as President Biden’s recent executive order on crypto.