Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) has returned to accumulating Bitcoin, disclosing a $369.7 million purchase in an SEC filing on Monday. The acquisition marks the company's first Bitcoin purchase in two months. Strategy, founded by Michael Saylor, is the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, and its shift from selling back to buying may bolster investor confidence. The turnaround also carries signal value beyond the company itself: because Strategy's filings are among the most closely watched indicators of institutional Bitcoin demand, its return to buying is often read as a gauge of how corporate treasuries are positioning after a period of forced deleveraging.

According to the SEC filing, Strategy purchased 4,603 Bitcoin between August 24 and 30 at an average price of $80,318 per Bitcoin. The acquisition brings the company's total holdings to 845,050 Bitcoin. Strategy has spent $63.73 billion building its Bitcoin position, for an average purchase price of $75,412 per coin — meaning the latest buy was executed above the company's blended cost basis, a level the market watches closely when assessing the position's unrealized performance.

Saylor confirmed the figures in an X post on August 31, stating that the company owns "845,050 bitcoin" along with $6.71 billion in what it calls "USD Assets," consisting of USD Reserve and USD Cash accounts. The company's net leverage stands at 0.0%, a figure that indicates Strategy's Bitcoin-backed debt obligations are fully covered by its asset base — a notable change from earlier phases of its leveraged accumulation strategy.

Strategy raises $603M from stock sales

The purchase was carried out without deploying additional external capital. Under its ATM program, Strategy raised a net $602.8 million by selling 4,531,421 shares of MSTR stock over one week, the company announced. ATM (at-the-market) equity issuance lets a company sell shares into the market gradually rather than through a single priced offering, making it sensitive to the prevailing share price.

Of that amount, $369.7 million went toward the Bitcoin purchase, $151.8 million was used to repurchase STRC preferred stock, $50.7 million covered dividend payments on preferred stock, and the remaining $30 million was added to the company's USD Cash reserves.

Issuing stock to acquire Bitcoin has long been Strategy's primary method of funding its operations. The company opted to restart the process only once its share price had recovered enough to make equity issuance a more cost-effective source of capital than borrowing.

Strategy pays nearly 29% more to replace Bitcoin

That approach has proven costly. Between May and August, the company sold 6,948 BTC for roughly $432.5 million, an average of $62,250 per coin. Buying back Bitcoin at $80,318 per coin means the company paid nearly 29% more than it received on the sales. The net result is that Strategy holds 2,345 fewer BTC than before, though it gained approximately $63 million in cash in the process. The episode illustrates a structural feature of the company's model: because its buying and selling is dictated by capital-markets conditions rather than a view on Bitcoin's price, the same coin can be sold and repurchased at materially different levels.

The summer sales were driven by specific circumstances. When the share price of STRC fell below its $100 par value, one of the company's funding avenues was effectively closed off.

To continue operating under these conditions, Strategy launched its Digital Credit Capital Framework, under which it plans to sell up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin to fund dividend payments and repurchases of its own preferred stock. At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $77,849 — below the average price Strategy paid for its latest purchase, a spread that will shape how quickly the company resumes further buying under its ATM program.