After several rounds of accumulation, MicroStrategy became the largest HODLer of Bitcoin as a public company a few months ago. In fact, according to Bitcoin Treasuries, MicroStrategy was holding 108,991 BTCs at press time.
Contrarily, the month-end filings with the SEC revealed ‘changes in beneficial ownership of securities’ by top executives at MS. According to a report by Bloomberg, the company CFO and CTO made $7 million each in the sell-off last month.
Cumulatively, the amount of profit booking by the top-eight executives can be estimated to be around $175 million in just one year.
The timing is interesting, especially since Bitcoin proponent Michael Saylor continues to promote the crypto on his social media.
Source: Coinstats
In the middle of the crypto’s stellar rally last month, CFO Phong Le and CTO Lang Timothy Edwin reportedly exercised their stock options. A similar trend was seen back in April. In fact, right before Bitcoin hit its ATH in April, Saylor announced,
” The Board of Directors of @MicroStrategy is now paid in #bitcoin. $MSTR”
This report caught the attention of popular crypto-influencer Mr Whale. He alleges that Saylor and his executives are practicing a classic pump-and-dump strategy.
Worth noting, however, that the CEO himself has not sold any holdings yet.
According to the influencer, Saylor is, in fact, moving MicroStrategy’s BTC to a ‘shady’ limited liability company (LLC) to avoid the public eye.
Michael Saylor was urging everyone to buy $BTC today at $51K.
He also moved all of MicroStrategy’s BTC to a shady LLC, which means he can now sell without filing with SEC.
My guess is that Saylor is dumping his $BTC holdings on those he’s actively trying to lure in.
— Mr. Whale (@CryptoWhale) September 7, 2021
SEC data also confirms that Saylor transferred 50,000 shares of Class A company stock to Alcantara LLC towards the end of last year. The transaction was categorized as ‘a gift to a charitable foundation for no consideration.’
Since 2020, Saylor has been aggressively investing in BTC as a “primary treasury reserve asset”. Bitcoin is now such a huge part of the company’s capitalization that the company’s price line mimics the BTC trend.
Now, while both have surged over the past year, has the focus shifted?
Source: Tradingview
In the past, Saylor has claimed that he is a holder of Bitcoin and ‘will not sell’ even during a downtrend. But, looks like top company executives don’t agree with the debt-financed ‘hodling’. They may consider the fair value of BTC to be lower than its current market value.
It could also be on the back of expectations of consolidation as we enter the last quarter of 2021. Additionally, one might need to ask if Michael Saylor is really as strong a proponent as he says he is. His tweet from 2013, for instance, suggests that he wasn’t always so inclined towards the cryptocurrency.
For now though, Saylor seems happy with the company’s exposure to Bitcoin. In fact, in a recent tweet, he once again shared his joy at having chosen Bitcoin over gold.
