Strategy adds $1B in Bitcoin as Israel-Iran conflict pressures markets

Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, disclosed its latest BTC purchases made last week amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Strategy acquired 10,100 Bitcoin for $1 billion during the week ending Sunday, the company officially announced on Monday.The purchases were made at an average price of $104,080 per coin, with Bitcoin dropping from $110,000 on June 9 to an intraweek low of $103,639 on Thursday, following the news that Israel had struck Iranian nuclear facilities.The latest haul was Strategy’s second Bitcoin acquisition in June, bringing its total holdings to 592,100 BTC, acquired for about $41.8 billion at an average price of $70,666 per coin.Strategy’s STRD debuted on NasdaqThe announcement comes shortly after Strategy’s third Bitcoin-backed preferred stock, STRD, began trading on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.With STRD, Strategy plans to raise $250 million through an initial public offering of a new class of perpetual preferred stock to buy more Bitcoin.As part of the STRD raise, Strategy will issue 2.5 million shares of its 10% Series A Perpetual Stride Preferred Stock at $100 per share.Strategy’s BTC yield reaches 19% YTDWith its latest acquisition, Strategy has significantly increased its Bitcoin yield, a measure counting the percentage increase in the value of its Bitcoin holdings over a specific period of time.According to Strategy’s data, the latest purchases increased its year-to-date BTC yield to 19.1%, up 2% from the previous 1,045 BTC buy announced June 9. Its quarter-to-date BTC yield is now 7.4%.The latest BTC yield surge brings Strategy closer to its targeted YTD yield goal of 25% by the end of 2025. The company previously targeted a smaller yield of 15% but increased it on May 1.Saylor congratulates Metaplanet on reaching 10,000 BTCApart from hinting about Strategy’s big purchase on social media, Saylor has been active in encouraging major Bitcoin strategy companies on X, including Japanese firm Metaplanet, which seeks to hold 100,000 BTC by 2026.Saylor took to X on Monday to congratulate Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich, Bitcoin strategy director Dylan LeClair and the community on Metaplanet’s Bitcoin stack reaching 10,000 BTC.Elsewhere, global crypto analysts have continued posting warnings to global firms adopting Bitcoin strategies like Saylor’s company.On Monday, VanEck’s head of digital assets research, Matthew Sigel, took to X to highlight the risks to public companies buying Bitcoin involving the scale of their BTC stack versus their market capitalization.“If the stock trades at or near NAV [net asset value], continued equity issuance can dilute rather than create value,” Sigel wrote.Previously, Standard Chartered also warned about the risks of increasing corporate Bitcoin adoption in the context of asset volatility.Magazine: Bitcoin $110K ‘bull trap’ concerns, James Wynn loses $25M BTC: Hodler’s Digest, June 1 – 7