Bitcoin Tops $79,000, Lifting Strategy to $3 Billion Paper Gain

Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, has made Bitcoin the centerpiece of its treasury strategy since 2020, funding purchases through equity and debt markets. That approach has turned the company into the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency and tied its valuation closely to Bitcoin. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor’s buying signals are therefore watched as a gauge of corporate demand and institutional confidence in digital assets.

After Saylor posted “We’re back” on Aug. 30, Strategy disclosed on Aug. 31 that it bought 4,603 Bitcoin for $369.7 million between Aug. 24 and Aug. 30, its first purchase in about two months. The average price was $80,318 per coin, lifting total holdings to 845,050 Bitcoin acquired for $63.73 billion. Bitcoin approached $79,000 as its share of the cryptocurrency market climbed above 60%.

Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, has built its corporate strategy around accumulating bitcoin through debt and equity financing, leaving its earnings highly exposed to cryptocurrency price swings. The company has historically emphasized buying and holding the token, but the need to maintain dollar liquidity and fund preferred-stock dividends has added pressure to balance its bitcoin ambitions with near-term cash obligations.

For the second quarter ended June 30, Strategy posted a net loss of about $8.2 billion after bitcoin’s decline generated roughly $8.3 billion in unrealized losses, even as its holdings increased 11% during the period. The company sold about $218.4 million of bitcoin under a new program and reported $3.75 billion in cash reserves. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor said Strategy would continue expanding its digital credit business.

Nasdaq-listed Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, has treated Bitcoin as its primary reserve asset since 2020 and drawn attention for using debt financing to keep expanding its holdings. The outcome of the strategy has major implications for the company’s finances and is also viewed as a barometer of institutional cryptocurrency investment. Markets have therefore closely tracked how Strategy would withstand sharp swings in Bitcoin’s price and the threshold at which its assets could face liquidation risks.

Strategy’s CEO said in July 2026 that the company’s investment and operating strategies would remain extremely secure unless Bitcoin fell to between $8,000 and $10,000. He said the company would continue building its U.S. dollar reserves to maintain ample liquidity. Strategy’s market net asset value premium, or mNAV—the ratio of its equity value to the value of its Bitcoin holdings—currently stands at about 1.02, with investors continuing to closely monitor the security of its assets.

MicroStrategy, now known as Strategy, is a leading proponent of corporate Bitcoin reserves, continuously buying the cryptocurrency through debt and equity issuance. The performance of its holdings is seen as a key gauge of whether the digital asset treasury (DAT) model can endure. Earlier weakness in Bitcoin prices had generated paper losses while weighing on the valuations and fundraising capacity of similar companies.

As Bitcoin recovered to about $77,000 in mid-April, Strategy’s shares rose 8% in a single day. Founder Michael Saylor said the company generated $1.3 billion in Bitcoin gains during the first two weeks of April. Strategy currently holds about 780,000 Bitcoin at an average cost of $75,577, putting its position close to break-even and boosting confidence in the DAT market.