MicroStrategy Goes Underwater In Latest Bitcoin Crash

Michael Saylor’s company faced unrealized losses for the first time on Monday as bitcoin dipped below its average purchase price.

• The largest corporate bitcoin holder is on the red.
• Bitcoin dipped to $30,330 on Monday.
• MicroStrategy paid an average of $30,700 for each bitcoin it holds.

The largest corporate holder of bitcoin, MicroStrategy, was at a loss as bitcoin dipped below its average purchase price of $30,700 on Monday.

The bitcoin price hasn’t had a good performance in the past few weeks, dropping as much as 20% in just 36 days since the end of its latest relief rally in late March. But over the past few days BTC has extended its losses as it plunged an additional 19.47% today, closing in on $30,000.

The red candle on the BTC/USD chart led MicroStrategy underwater as the Nasdaq-traded company saw the price dip below $30,700 – the amount it paid on average for all of its more than 129,000 bitcoin. Bitcoin fell as low as $30,331 on Monday, according to TradingView data.

MicroStrategy last purchased bitcoin in early April funded with a bitcoin-backed loan. The software analytics company acquired 4,167 BTC at the time for roughly $190.5 million at an average price of about $45,714 per bitcoin. However, due to the nature of the loan, the company risks getting margin called if the price drops below $21,000. MicroStrategy can avoid getting margin called and having to sell some of the bitcoin backing the loan by depositing more BTC as collateral.

Tesla is also at a loss, but has been for a longer period of time than MicroStrategy as its average purchase price is slightly higher. Tesla acquired 43,200 BTC last year for $1.5 billion, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net. The electric car maker’s cost per bitcoin sits at roughly $34,700, leaving the company with a nearly 10% unrealized loss at press time – about $155,000,000.

It is unclear how public companies will deal with a situation where their bitcoin holdings face a loss for a sustained period of time.