Proprietary trading firm Group One buys a 13,5% stake in MicroStrategy

Earlier, MicroStrategy sold some bitcoins for the first time ever

11.01.2023 - 08:55

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Proprietary trading firm Group One Trading took a “beneficial” position that includes options to buy 1.3 million shares of MicroStrategy Inc., according to an US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Group One is focused on making markets in US equity options and provides liquidity across a range of securities, according to the firm’s website.

MicroStrategy has become one of the few public companies that hold a large amount of Bitcoin besides crypto miners, with its current stash worth almost $2.3 billion at today’s prices. That makes the firm, with a market capitalization of $2 billion, a proxy for stock investors that want exposure to Bitcoin without directly holding the digital asset. MicroStrategy’s shares fell 74% in 2022.

The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company has remained a net buyer even as Bitcoin prices plummeted and has taken out loans to fund its coin purchases. MicroStrategy’s co-founder Michael Saylor, a strong advocate of Bitcoin, gave up his chief executive officer title in August after a loss of more than $1 billion related to the second-quarter plunge in Bitcoin prices.

MicroStrategy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Corrects an earlier version of the story that identified the transaction as an equity purchase of Class A shares.)

This material is taken from the website bloomberg.com.

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