In a period of continued sharp fluctuations in the cryptocurrency markets, Bitcoin moves from two major players in the sector have attracted attention. Both Binance and Strategy, which stands out with its institutional Bitcoin strategies, have made significant BTC purchases in recent days. These steps show that the long-term Bitcoin approach continues to be maintained at the institutional level despite the selling pressure in the markets.
Binance completed its first Bitcoin purchase under the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), which it created for user security. As part of its plan to reduce the stablecoin weighting of the SAFU fund, the exchange purchased a total of 1,315 Bitcoin. According to Blockchain.com data, this purchase, worth approximately $101 million, was made at an average price of $77,409 per Bitcoin. Binance aims to convert the entire approximately $1 billion stablecoin balance in the SAFU fund into Bitcoin within the next 27 days.
Binance officials emphasize that there is no change in the purpose of SAFU. The fund has been used since 2018 to protect users in situations such as extreme market conditions, cyberattacks, or unexpected losses. The conversion of reserves previously held in BUSD and then USDC to Bitcoin reveals Binance's positioning of BTC as a long-term store of value. This move also came immediately after a sharp sell-off in Bitcoin that briefly dropped below $75,000.
Strategy also in the spotlight
On the other hand, purchases continued unabated at Strategy. The company announced that it purchased another 855 Bitcoin between January 26 and February 1. According to the 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), this purchase was made for approximately $75.3 million, with an average cost of $87,974 per Bitcoin. Thus, Strategy's total Bitcoin holdings reached 713,502 BTC.
Michael Saylor, the company's co-founder and chairman of the board, states that the average cost of the total purchases was $76,052. At current prices, Strategy's Bitcoin portfolio is worth approximately $56 billion. This represents more than 3.4% of Bitcoin's total supply of 21 million. However, recent price drops have raised risks for Strategy.
With Bitcoin falling below $76,000, the company's average cost of ownership temporarily turned into a loss, the first time this has happened since October 2023. Strategy's purchases are largely financed through the sale of MSTR shares on the market. The company still has over $8 billion in additional share sale capacity. Saylor has previously stated that Strategy's capital structure is designed to withstand prolonged and sharp declines in Bitcoin. Despite this, both the decline in Bitcoin price and the loss in Strategy's share value demonstrate that institutional Bitcoin strategies are vulnerable to significant short-term fluctuations.
