By Strategy estimates it recorded a $20.91 billion gain on its digital assets in the third quarter, giving MSTR investors an unusually detailed preview of the impact of Bitcoin’s rebound several weeks before the company reports its full quarterly results.
The estimate appeared in Strategy’s October 5 Form 8-K alongside its regular Bitcoin-purchase disclosure. The weekly purchase itself was small by Strategy’s standards: 334 BTC for $28.7 million between October 1 and October 4, taking the company’s holdings to exactly 848,000 BTC.
The bigger number is on the quarter-end balance sheet.
Strategy estimates that its Bitcoin holdings had a carrying value of $70.82 billion on September 30, compared with a total acquisition cost of approximately $63.95 billion at that point. The rise in Bitcoin during the quarter produced an estimated $20.91 billion digital-asset gain under fair-value accounting.
The company stressed that these are preliminary estimates prepared by management. KPMG has not audited or reviewed the figures, and Strategy has not yet reported its complete third-quarter results.
The $20.91 Billion Gain Also Reversed Strategy’s Tax Position
The Bitcoin rally did more than create a large estimated accounting gain. It also flipped the tax position attached to Strategy’s holdings.
Strategy estimates $1.88 billion of deferred tax expense for the third quarter and a $1.88 billion net deferred tax liability related to its Bitcoin holdings and activity as of September 30.
At the end of June, the picture was very different. Strategy had a $4.12 billion deferred tax asset associated with losses on its Bitcoin holdings, together with a valuation allowance against that asset.
By September 30, the fair value of the company’s Bitcoin exceeded its cost basis. Strategy therefore reversed the $4.12 billion deferred tax asset and released the associated valuation allowance.
The release of that valuation allowance generated an approximately $4.12 billion income tax benefit, reducing what otherwise would have been an estimated $6.00 billion deferred tax expense to $1.88 billion.
That distinction matters for MSTR stock investors. The $20.91 billion digital-asset gain is not cash generated by selling Bitcoin. It is primarily the accounting effect of marking the Bitcoin treasury to fair value at quarter-end, and the accompanying tax numbers move with that valuation.
Investor Takeaway: Strategy’s October 5 filing is more significant as a preliminary Q3 earnings signal than as another Bitcoin-purchase announcement. The $20.91 billion estimated gain and $4.12 billion tax-benefit effect show how sharply reported earnings can move when Bitcoin crosses above or below the company’s cost basis.
Strategy Bought Only 334 Bitcoin After Quarter-End
Strategy made no Bitcoin purchases between September 28 and September 30, leaving its quarter-end holdings at 847,666 BTC.
The company then bought 334 BTC between October 1 and October 4 for $28.7 million, paying an average $85,838.80 per coin including fees and expenses.
That lifted the treasury to 848,000 BTC acquired for an aggregate $63.97 billion, or an average $75,440.70 per Bitcoin.
The purchase follows the much larger transaction disclosed a week earlier. FinanceFeeds reported on September 28 that Strategy bought 1,665 Bitcoin for $142.7 million, lifting its holdings to 847,666 BTC.
The latest acquisition was funded from two sources. Strategy used $15.7 million of net proceeds from sales of MSTR Class A common stock and another $13.0 million from its USD Cash balance.
Strategy sold 92,894 MSTR shares under its at-the-market program between October 1 and October 4 to generate the $15.7 million. It sold no MSTR shares during the final three days of September.
Strategy Spent Six Times More Buying Back STRC Than Buying Bitcoin
The week’s capital-allocation numbers also show that buying Bitcoin is no longer the only major use of Strategy’s liquidity.
From September 28 through September 30, Strategy repurchased 1,033,168 shares of its STRC preferred stock for $102.6 million. It bought another 740,634 STRC shares for $73.7 million between October 1 and October 4.
That makes 1,773,802 STRC shares repurchased for $176.3 million across the seven-day period, more than six times the $28.7 million spent on additional Bitcoin.
No MSTR common shares were repurchased. Strategy still had $1 billion available under its common-stock repurchase authorization as of October 4, while $547.2 million remained under the repurchase program covering its preferred securities.
The preference for retiring STRC is not new. FinanceFeeds reported in September that Strategy spent $139.3 million buying back STRC while making no Bitcoin purchases, part of a broader shift toward managing the cost of its preferred-capital structure.
STRC is Strategy’s variable-rate perpetual preferred stock, designed around a $100 stated amount and a dividend rate that management can adjust. FinanceFeeds’ guide to how STRC works explains why repurchasing the preferred can reduce future cash dividend obligations when the shares trade below their intended level.
Investor Takeaway: The capital allocation is becoming increasingly important to the MSTR investment case. Strategy is still accumulating Bitcoin, but it is simultaneously using cash to retire preferred stock and maintaining reserves for dividends and interest rather than automatically directing every available dollar into BTC.
The USD Reserve Remains Close to $5 Billion
Strategy ended October 4 with a $4.88 billion USD Reserve and another $833.4 million classified as USD Cash.
The two pools serve different purposes. The USD Reserve is intended primarily to support dividends on Strategy’s preferred stock and interest on its debt, while USD Cash can be deployed more broadly for Bitcoin purchases, reserve additions and capital-management transactions.
Between September 28 and October 4, Strategy used $154.1 million of USD Cash for STRC repurchases and $13.0 million to buy Bitcoin. It separately used $142.5 million from the USD Reserve for preferred dividends and debt interest.
That broader financing structure has become increasingly relevant as Strategy’s balance sheet has expanded beyond a simple leveraged Bitcoin position. FinanceFeeds previously examined the change when Strategy introduced new metrics designed to show the Bitcoin value remaining after preferred-stock and debt claims.
For MSTR shareholders, the October 5 filing therefore contains two different stories. Strategy added another 334 BTC, extending a treasury that now holds 848,000 coins. But the more consequential disclosure is the preliminary quarter-end mark: an estimated $20.91 billion digital-asset gain, a $70.82 billion Bitcoin carrying value and a tax-accounting reversal large enough to create an approximately $4.12 billion income tax benefit before the full Q3 numbers arrive.