MicroStrategy and Tether Reap Bitcoin Profits: Recent BTC Rally Boosting Businesses in Crypto

Key Takeaways

• Amid a strong end-of-year Bitcoin rally, companies that hold the asset have been rewarded.
• At the close of November, MicroStrategy’s BTC holdings represented a $1.5B profit for the company.
• Tether has also seen the value of its Bitcoin stash grow to over a billion dollars more than what the firm initially invested.

With the price of Bitcoin climbing above $40,000 on Monday, December 4, companies (and countries) that hold the asset have seen the value of their investments rise significantly since the crypto market turned bullish in October.

Two of the largest corporate Bitcoin holders are MicroStrategy and Tether, which have both seen the value of their Bitcoin holdings swell to over a billion dollars more than what they initially paid.

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Holdings Turn Green

Under CEO Michael Saylor’s leadership, the software giant MicroStrategy has been stacking Bitcoin since 2020.

Having been steadily adding to its stockpile since then, in September, the company’s Bitcoin investments represented unrealized losses of around $500M. 

But in less than 3 months, a strong crypto rally has reversed MicroStrategy’s fortunes as the value of its Bitcoin stash has swelled to around $7.2B, representing a profit of over $1.5B. 

Moreover, the firm appears to have no intention of slowing down its BTC purchases, having acquired an additional 16,130 BTC in November.

And neither is MicroStrategy alone in its commitment.

Tether Boasts $1B+ Bitcoin Profits

While Tether has always held small amounts of Bitcoin in its stablecoin reserves, in May, the firm committed to allocating up to 15% of its net operating profits toward purchasing additional BTC.

According to the company’s latest reserve report, at the close of Q3. Tether held BTC worth $1.66B.

Based on the company’s quarterly disclosures, blockchain analyst Tom Wan identified a Bitcoin wallet that holds an amount similar to what Tether reports owning.

The 11th most well-funded wallet in existence, the address identified by Wan has only ever received transfers from Bitfinex, a crypto exchange owned by Tether’s parent company iFinex. 

Since receiving its first deposit in September 2022, further inflows have seen thousands of coins at a time transferred to the wallet in question, which now holds over 57,576 BTC worth more than $2.4B.

Calculated from the Bitcoin price at the time of each deposit, the suspected Tether wallet’s holdings represent a $1.1B profit for the company.