Topline
Bitcoin fell below the $70,000 mark for the first time since April 8 after the cryptocurrency’s biggest institutional holder, Michael Saylor’s Strategy, announced it had sold some of its tokens for the first time in more than three and a half years.
The price of Bitcoin fell below $70,000 for the first time since April.
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Key Facts
The price of Bitcoin briefly fell to $69,690 early on Tuesday, down more than 3.8% compared to the previous day, before paring some of its losses
The world’s most valuable cryptocurrency is down more than 8.4% compared to the previous week.
Other major crypto tokens were unaffected by the Bitcoin selloff early on Tuesday, with the price of Ether, Binance’s BNB and XRP remaining mostly flat at $1,981, $681 and $1.26, respectively.
What Do We Know About Strategy’s Bitcoin Sale?
In an SEC filing on Monday, Strategy (formerly known as MicroStrategy) announced it had sold 32 bitcoins in the last week of May to raise about $2.5 million to pay dividends to stockholders. The average sale price for the tokens was around $77,135 per bitcoin. Strategy’s stock price fell 5.85% on Monday after the disclosure. This is only the second time the company has sold a portion of its Bitcoin holdings, with the last such sale taking place in December 2022.
How Much Bitcoin Does Strategy Hold?
Even after the sale, Strategy continues to hold 843,706 bitcoins, which were bought at an average purchase price of $75,699, making it the largest institutional holder of the cryptocurrency.
Forbes Valuation
According to Forbes’ Real Time Billionaires’ list, Strategy founder and CEO Michael Saylor’s net worth is $4.5 billion, making him the 943rd richest person in the world. Monday’s selloff of Strategy’s stock cut Saylor’s fortune by $183 million.