Strategy Resumes $370M Bitcoin Buying Spree as Fed and Iran Tensions Rattle the Market
Strategy ended a 10-week pause with a $370M Bitcoin purchase, even as a hawkish Fed and U.S. strikes on Iran pushed BTC and ETH lower Monday.
Strategy's Michael Saylor snapped back into buying mode this week, acquiring 4,603 Bitcoin for roughly $369.7 million between August 24 and 30, at an average price of $80,318 per coin, ending a ten-week pause and confirming the purchase in an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The purchase was funded by selling about 4.53 million Class A shares under the company's at-the-market program, which raised roughly $602.8 million. The company's total Bitcoin treasury now stands at 845,050 BTC, acquired for a combined $63.73 billion at an average cost basis of $75,412 per coin.
The buying gap traced back to a practical funding constraint rather than a change of heart: dividend obligations tied to Strategy's growing lineup of preferred stock offerings had to be covered first. Of the capital raised this round, $151.8 million went toward repurchasing STRC preferred shares and $50.7 million covered STRC dividends, with the remainder added to cash reserves. Only a fraction of the roughly $2.01 billion raised through mid-to-late August share sales has been deployed toward Bitcoin so far, leaving well over a billion dollars still earmarked for future purchases. CEO Phong Le described the shift as a move from one-way capital issuance toward active capital management, issuing securities when conditions are attractive and repurchasing them when it benefits shareholders. MSTR shares rose as much as 1.72% on the news, putting the stock on pace for its strongest month since November 2024.
Macro headwinds: a hawkish Fed and renewed Middle East tensions
Bitcoin opened Monday around $77,700, down roughly 0.7% from Sunday, before edging back above $78,000 by mid-morning; Ethereum opened near $2,418, off about 1.6%, before recovering slightly. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole remarks reiterated the central bank's commitment to bringing prices down, telling the committee there was still "work to do," a tone markets read as hawkish on rates. That signal was compounded over the weekend by U.S. airstrikes on Iranian rocket launchers, which reignited hostilities in the Middle East and pushed oil prices higher — a combination that typically pressures risk assets, crypto included.
From August 24 to 30, the market had already moved through a pattern of surge, pullback and consolidation, with Bitcoin briefly breaking above $81,000 before retreating as expectations of a more hawkish Fed built. A stronger U.S. dollar added further pressure on dollar-denominated assets, including gold, silver and crypto.
What it means for the market
The two stories sit in tension with each other, and that tension is the real headline: institutional conviction is still deepening even as short-term macro pressure builds. Strategy's return to accumulation — backed by a still-sizable cash reserve — signals that large treasury holders see current prices as a buying opportunity rather than a reason to retreat. At the same time, a hawkish Fed and fresh geopolitical risk are keeping a lid on near-term price action, a reminder that Bitcoin's institutional adoption story and its short-term price behavior can move on very different clocks.
