'No new orange dots': Strategy pauses weekly bitcoin acquisitions near all-time high

Bitcoin treasury company Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) has paused its weekly bitcoin purchases, acquiring no additional BTC between Sept. 29 and Oct. 5, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

Strategy retains total holdings of 640,031 BTC — worth around $79.4 billion — bought at an average price of $73,983 per bitcoin (for a total cost of around $47.4 billion), including fees and expenses, according to the company's co-founder and executive chairman, Michael Saylor. To put that in perspective, the haul represents more than 3% of bitcoin's total 21 million supply and implies around $32 billion of paper gains at current prices.

Saylor strongly hinted at the pause ahead of time, sharing an update on Strategy's bitcoin acquisition tracker on Sunday, stating, "No new orange dots this week — just a $9 billion reminder of why we HODL," referencing the gain in value of its holdings during the period.

Strategy's bitcoin acquisitions. Image: Strategy.

Also in the filing, Strategy reported an unrealized gain of $3.89 billion on its digital asset holdings for the quarter ended Sept. 30, accompanied by an associated deferred tax expense of $1.12 billion. As of the same date, the company's total digital asset carrying value stood at $73.21 billion, with a related deferred tax liability of $7.43 billion. 

According to Bitcoin Treasuries data, there are now 185 public companies that have adopted some form of bitcoin acquisition model. MARA, Tether-backed Twenty One, Metaplanet, Adam Back and Cantor Fitzgerald-backed Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, Bullish, Riot Platforms, Trump Media & Technology Group, CleanSpark, and Coinbase make up the remainder of the top 10, with 52,850 BTC, 43,514 BTC, 30,823 BTC, 30,021 BTC, 24,300 BTC, 19,287 BTC, 15,000 BTC, 13,011 BTC, and 11,776 BTC, respectively.

Last Monday, Strategy reported it had bought 196 BTC for $22 million — one of its lowest weekly acquisitions of the year — taking its total holdings to 640,031 BTC. The pace of Strategy's bitcoin buys has generally been slowing in recent weeks as it attempts to shift its focus from its common stock ATM program to its perpetual preferred stocks for funding further bitcoin acquisitions.

Strategy shares rise on CAMT clarification

Strategy's stock closed down 0.2% on Friday at $351.63, according to The Block's Strategy price page, in a week that saw bitcoin gain over 10%. MSTR gained 16.7% for the week overall after the U.S. Treasury clarified on Tuesday that corporations can exclude unrealized gains on digital assets when calculating liability under the 15% corporate alternative minimum tax.

Under new accounting rules adopted earlier this year, companies were required to mark their crypto holdings to market, potentially exposing them to taxes on paper profits.

"As a result of Treasury and IRS interim guidance issued yesterday, Strategy does not expect to be subject to the Corporate Alternate Minimum Tax due to unrealized gains on its bitcoin holdings," Saylor said in response at the time.

MSTR is currently up 2.5% in pre-market trading on Monday, per TradingView, and has gained 17.2% year-to-date compared to bitcoin's 32.7%.