MicroStrategy purchases $369M Bitcoin, price near $78k

MicroStrategy purchases $369M Bitcoin, price near $78k

Bitcoin steadied on Tuesday, trading at $78,387.3 by 10:17 ET (14:17 GMT) after a modest 0.3% decline, following a roughly 25% surge in August driven by expectations of clearer U.S. regulation and heightened demand for alternative assets amid bond‑market turbulence. The cryptocurrency remained just above the $78,000 threshold.

Strategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR), the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin treasury, disclosed that it purchased 4,603 Bitcoin for approximately $368.7 million, marking its first acquisition since late June. The purchase was financed through the sale of $602.8 million of common stock, with the remaining proceeds used to repurchase Strategy’s STRC preferred shares. The new buy raised Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings to 845,050 coins.

Altcoin activity was muted. Ether slipped 0.7% to $2,450.01, XRP rose 0.2%, Solana fell 1.2%, BNB declined 0.5%, Cardano gained 1.2%, Dogecoin dropped 0.3%, and the meme‑coin $TRUMP slid 2.8%.

On the macro front, uncertainty over U.S. interest rates persisted after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh delivered hawkish comments, reaffirming the Fed’s 2% inflation target and fueling expectations of a September rate hike. Recent bond‑market turmoil reinforced these expectations.

Labor market data released the same day showed the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary reporting 7.271 million job openings in July, short of the 7.330 million forecast. The July figure represented an improvement over the revised June total of 7.182 million, which had been adjusted down from an initial 7.359 million.

Geopolitical tensions resurfaced as the United States and Iran conducted military strikes for the first time in a month. The escalation lifted oil prices and coincided with shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz falling to a fraction of pre‑war levels, adding further upward pressure on inflation expectations.

Higher interest rates are generally adverse for Bitcoin, as they reduce the relative attractiveness of highly speculative assets compared with debt‑based investments.