MicroStrategy sold bitcoin worth $11.8 million for tax benefits

Quick Take

  • Corporate bitcoin whale MicroStrategy sold BTC for the first time.
  • The firm liquidated 704 bitcoin worth $11.8 million for tax benefit purposes.

MicroStrategy sold bitcoin for the first time since it began to hold the asset on its corporate balance sheet, liquidating 704 bitcoin worth $11.8 million at the time of sale, according to a Form 8-K filing on Wednesday.

"MicroStrategy plans to carry back the capital losses resulting from this transaction against previous capital gains, to the extent such carrybacks are available under the federal income tax laws currently, in effect," the company said in the filing.

MicroStrategy sold the bitcoin on Dec. 22, according to the document. The company followed by buying 810 bitcoin two days later, adding to the 2,395 bitcoin acquired between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24.

RELATED INDICES

MicroStrategy now owns about 132,500 bitcoin acquired at an average price of $30,397. The company began holding the asset on its balance sheet in August 2020.

The company has sold about $46.4 million of shares out of a previously announced plan to sell up to $500 million in Class A common stock that it can use to increase its bitcoin holdings, according to the Dec. 28 filing.


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About Author

Osato is a news reporter at The Block as part of the crypto ecosystems team that focuses on DAO governance, staking, blockchain layers, and DeFi. He was previously a news reporter at Cointelegraph. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, he enjoys crosswords, poker, and attempting to beat his Scrabble high score. Follow him on Twitter at @OsatoNomayo.

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