Strategy has put its bitcoin buying on hold for the time being. In a statement on Sunday, Michael Saylor revealed that the company would not be expanding its bitcoin holdings during the current week, marking a temporary halt to its regular purchase program as the first-quarter earnings release approaches on Tuesday.
Saylor took to X to announce, 'No buys this week. Back to work next week.' This pause is only the second instance this year for Strategy, which has established itself as the largest publicly traded company with a bitcoin treasury and a closely watched proxy for institutional bitcoin exposure.
The last time the company skipped a weekly purchase was between March 23 and March 29. Currently, Strategy holds 818,334 BTC, equivalent to nearly 3.9% of the total 21 million bitcoin supply. Its most recent acquisition added 3,273 BTC at an average price of $77,906 per bitcoin.
As of Monday's Asian morning hours, BTC was trading near $80,100, representing a 20% increase over the past month. Although the pause may seem insignificant, it comes at a time when Strategy is preparing to release its first-quarter results, with some Wall Street analysts anticipating a loss of $18.98 per share. According to data from Yahoo Finance, which compiled estimates from six analysts, Strategy is expected to report revenue of approximately $125 million for the first quarter, marking a 12.6% increase from $111.1 million in the same quarter last year.
This would indicate an improvement from the same quarter last year, when sales declined by 3.6%, suggesting that the underlying software business continues to grow despite the company's identity being heavily tied to bitcoin. However, earnings are expected to be lower, with Yahoo Finance's average estimate suggesting a loss of $27.33 per share for the March quarter, while Zacks Research data points to an expected loss of $3.41 per share. Strategy is no longer viewed as a software company with a bitcoin position but rather as a bitcoin financing vehicle that also provides business intelligence software.
As a result, Tuesday's report may be evaluated more on the resilience of Saylor's capital-raising strategy and less on the company's true operating performance. One product that has drawn attention is STRC, a perpetual preferred share designed to trade near $100 while offering a variable monthly dividend, currently around 11.5% annualized. The appeal of this product lies in its yield, backed by Strategy's balance sheet and bitcoin-heavy capital strategy. However, concerns arise that this product may start to resemble credit risk rather than stable income if market sentiment shifts.
Higher bitcoin prices support Strategy's valuation, enhancing its ability to raise capital and fund more bitcoin purchases. Nevertheless, when sentiment weakens, the same structure becomes more fragile.
Saylor has confirmed that buying will resume next week, but Tuesday's earnings will reveal how much confidence investors still have in the machinery that facilitates this process. Notably, the company raised $82 million through the sale of common stock, as disclosed in Monday's 8-K filing, although no corresponding bitcoin purchases were announced.