Bitcoin rose in price on Thursday after the digital asset issuing company MicroStrategy announced a plan to issue more shares, which will allow it to buy even more tokens, UNN writes with reference to Bloomberg.
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The digital asset was up 0.32% to $98,747 as of 11:30 a.m. in Singapore, from an intraday high of $99,876.70. A broader range of cryptocurrencies, which includes smaller tokens including Ether, Solana, and the meme favorite Dogecoin, rose 0.2%, recovering from Wednesday's losses.
"The announcement that MicroStrategy will issue more shares next year to buy more bitcoins is pushing prices up," said Sean McNulty, director of trading at liquidity provider Arbelos Markets. - The market is looking ahead to MicroStrategy's bitcoin purchases, and this has been the single biggest reason for the market's rise. Watching the MicroStrategy news is becoming a big part of my day.
MicroStrategy Inc. is seeking authorization to increase the number of authorized shares of Class A common and preferred stock, according to a December 23 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Such a move would give the company, which has evolved from a software maker to a bitcoin storage facility, more firepower, the newspaper writes.
Earlier this week, MicroStrategy announced that it had acquired an additional $561 million in digital tokens at an average price close to last week's record high.
Bitcoin has grown by 135% this year, outperforming returns on traditional investments such as global stocks and gold.
Some traders warned that the markets could become volatile in the coming days due to the massive expiration of open interest in bitcoin and ether derivatives.
On Friday, the Deribit derivatives exchange ends a record $43 billion in open interest, including $13.95 billion worth of bitcoin options and $3.77 billion worth of ether options.
"Market makers may unwind their hedges and short strikes on bitcoin, which could lead to market volatility on Friday," McNulty said.