Shares of MicroStrategy were more than 5% higher in the pre-trade on Tuesday after the enterprise software firm intended to acquire more bitcoin.
In a press release, MicroStrategy said it plans to offer $ 600 million worth of senior convertible notes and use the net proceeds to buy bitcoin.
The company already owns nearly 72,000 units of bitcoin, as of a February 2 regulatory filing. It is worth nearly $ 3.6 billion, based on the price of the virtual currency Tuesday.
This is the second time that MicroStrategy is raising money to finance a purchase of the cryptocurrency. In December, the company in Virginia closed a $ 650 million offer for the convertible notes.
Convertible notes are debt, but can later be converted into a company’s shares, cash or a combination thereof.
Led by Chairman and CEO Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy has become an early adopter of companies that buy bitcoin as an investment. The company announced its first purchase of the cryptocurrency in August, acquiring 21,454 bitcoins using existing cash on its balance sheet.
Saylor advocates that other companies do the same, and earlier this month hosted a virtual conference called “Bitcoin for Corporations”. Saylor has publicly urged Tesla CEO Elon Musk to follow his ‘playbook’ in a Twitter conversation. A little over a month later, Tesla announced that it had bought $ 1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and planned to eventually accept the digital currency as payment for its products.
The price of bitcoin reached $ 50,000 per coin for the first time on Tuesday morning and has continued in recent days as a number of established financial firms such as BNY Mellon and Mastercard announced movements in the crypto space.
MicroStrategy shares have been tearing up since August as some investors view the stock as a way to gain exposure to bitcoin. Shares have risen more than 660% since August 11, the date the company announced its first bitcoin purchase.
The stock peaked at $ 1,315 in 52 weeks on February 9th.