Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) is an American publicly traded company that has transformed itself from a business intelligence software firm into the world's first and largest Bitcoin treasury company. Founded in 1989 by Michael Saylor and Sanju Bansal, the company rebranded from MicroStrategy to Strategy in February 2025, adopting the Bitcoin "B" symbol as its corporate logo and formally centering its identity on Bitcoin accumulation. As of March 2026, Strategy holds over 761,000 BTC -- more than 3.6% of Bitcoin's total supply -- making it by far the largest corporate holder of bitcoin in the world.
History
Michael Saylor and Sanju Bansal founded MicroStrategy in 1989 in Tysons Corner, Virginia. The company became a leading provider of business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-based analytics. MicroStrategy went public in 1998 and grew rapidly during the technology boom of the late 1990s, though it faced a significant setback in 2000 when the SEC charged the company with accounting irregularities, leading to a stock crash and settlement.
For two decades, MicroStrategy operated as a mid-cap enterprise software company with a loyal but niche customer base. The company was profitable but unremarkable by the standards of the tech industry -- until August 2020, when Saylor made a decision that would fundamentally alter the company's trajectory and its place in financial history.
The Bitcoin Pivot
On August 11, 2020, MicroStrategy announced its first Bitcoin purchase: 21,454 BTC acquired for approximately $250 million at an average price of $11,653 per bitcoin. Saylor described Bitcoin as "a dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash," citing dollar devaluation and inflation risks as the rationale for the move.
This made MicroStrategy the first publicly traded company to adopt Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset. What began as a single allocation evolved into an ongoing accumulation strategy that has not been interrupted. The company has funded its Bitcoin purchases through a combination of operating cash flow, convertible debt offerings, preferred stock sales, and at-the-market equity issuances -- pioneering financial instruments specifically designed to raise capital for Bitcoin acquisition.
By mid-2025, Strategy held over 590,000 BTC. By March 2026, holdings had grown to approximately 761,000 BTC, acquired at a total cost of roughly $33 billion at an average price of approximately $66,385 per bitcoin. The company has publicly stated its ambition to reach one million BTC.
Rebrand to Strategy
In February 2025, MicroStrategy rebranded as Strategy, adopting the Bitcoin "B" as its logo and orange as its primary brand color. The company described itself as "the world's first and largest Bitcoin Treasury Company," signaling that Bitcoin accumulation -- not enterprise software -- was now the core of its corporate identity. The rebrand coincided with the adoption of new FASB accounting standards that allowed the company to report Bitcoin at fair market value on its balance sheet, rather than the previous impairment-only model.
Index Inclusion
In December 2024, MicroStrategy was added to the Nasdaq-100 index, becoming the first Bitcoin-focused company to join the index. This inclusion exposed the stock to billions of dollars in passive investment flows through exchange-traded funds that track the Nasdaq-100, including the Invesco QQQ Trust. The company's stock rose over 547% in 2024, driven by both Bitcoin's price appreciation and growing investor interest in the company's unique capital structure.
Significance
Strategy's impact on the Bitcoin ecosystem extends far beyond its own balance sheet. Before MicroStrategy's August 2020 announcement, the idea of a publicly traded company holding Bitcoin as a primary treasury asset was widely considered reckless. Saylor's willingness to act -- and the subsequent performance of the stock -- opened the door for dozens of companies worldwide to adopt similar Bitcoin treasury strategies. The company's framework for using public capital markets to accumulate bitcoin has created an entirely new category of publicly traded entity: the Bitcoin treasury company.
Strategy's Bitcoin holdings -- larger than the reserves of most nation-states -- make it a systemically significant player in the Bitcoin ecosystem. The company has effectively created a new way for investors in traditional equity markets to gain leveraged exposure to Bitcoin through a regulated, publicly traded security.
External Links
- Strategy Official Website
- Strategy Bitcoin Purchases
- Strategy on NASDAQ
- MicroStrategy on Wikipedia
- Michael Saylor on X (Twitter)
References
- Michael Saylor -- co-founder and Executive Chairman
- Bitcoin Whitepaper -- the foundational document for the asset Strategy accumulates
- The Bitcoin Standard -- text on Bitcoin as sound money that influenced Saylor's thinking
- Broken Money -- Lyn Alden's monetary analysis aligned with Strategy's thesis
- Jack Dorsey -- fellow technology CEO who made corporate Bitcoin investments
- Bitcoin 2024 -- major conference where Saylor has been a prominent speaker
- Coinbase -- exchange and custodian infrastructure supporting institutional Bitcoin
- Lightning Network -- Layer 2 scaling solution for the network Strategy invests in