BlackRock increases stake in Michael Saylor’s Strategy to 5%
BlackRock has increased its stake in Michael Saylor’s Strategy, reinforcing its growing institutional interest in Bitcoin.BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with over $11.6 trillion in assets under management, has increased its stake in Strategy to 5%, according to a Feb. 6 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.Following the investment, MicroStrategy’s stock price rose by more than 2.8% in pre-market trading to change hands at $325 as of 12:25 pm UTC on Feb. 7, Google Finance data shows.Strategy is the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder with 471,107 BTC worth around $48 billion.BlackRock’s growing stake in Saylor’s company comes a day after MicroStrategy rebranded to Strategy and adopted a Bitcoin-themed visual marketing scheme, Cointelegraph reported on Feb. 5.BlackRock, Strategy, continue increasing Bitcoin exposureBoth BlackRock and Strategy continue investing in Bitcoin, despite a recent BTC correction below $100,000.Despite sustaining a $670 million net loss in the fourth quarter of 2024, Strategy will continue executing its “21/21 Plan,” targeting $42 billion in capital over the next three years, split between equity and fixed-income securities to buy more Bitcoin.Strategy said it has already raised $20 billion of that $42 billion, fueling its Bitcoin buying spree largely through senior convertible notes and debt.As for BlackRock, its Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) became the world’s 31st-largest ETF among all ETFs, including crypto and traditional finance products, on Jan. 31, according to data from VettaFi.BlackRock is the largest Bitcoin ETF worth over $55.5 billion, controlling over 48.7% of the cumulative holdings of all US spot Bitcoin ETFs, Dune data shows.ETF investments were a significant element in Bitcoin’s 2024 price rally, accounting for about 75% of new investment when it recaptured the $50,000 mark on Feb. 15, less than a month after the ETFs’ debut.Bitcoin adoption is growing in the US, as 16th state pushes for BTC reserveBeyond financial institutions, US lawmakers are increasingly considering adopting Bitcoin as a savings technology. Kentucky became the 16th state to introduce a Bitcoin reserve-related legislation on Feb. 6, Cointelegraph reported.“If Kentucky moves forward, it creates a roadmap for others to follow,” Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert, told Cointelegraph, adding: “The SEC, the Fed, and even Congress will have to grapple with how to classify Bitcoin in public reserves — is it a commodity? A security? Something entirely new?”Kentucky’s bill comes a week after the state of Illinois announced plans for a Bitcoin reserve bill that proposed a minimum BTC holding strategy of five years.