(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin climbed to a record high for a second consecutive day, with MicroStrategy Inc. accelerating the pace of its massive purchases of the cryptocurrency.
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The largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin announced Wednesday that it was increasing the amount of convertible senior notes it plans to sell to fund additional purchases of the token by almost 50% to $2.6 billion. MicroStrategy, which announced earlier this week that it bought $4.6 billion of the token, owns more than $30 billion.
When combined with other companies who have announced similar plans, the total amount raised by these firms could reach $43 billion by the end of 2026, Manuel Villegas, digital assets analyst at Julius Baer, said in a note on Wednesday.
“These corporate intentions would technically mean that if prices stay the same, and all else equal, they would acquire every single Bitcoin issued within the next two years,” Villegas said.
Bitcoin rose as much as 2.6% to $94,668, and is up around 40% since crypto cheerleader Donald Trump won the US presidential election.
The rally comes as the first options wagers on BlackRock Inc.’s $44 billion iShares Bitcoin Trust suggest traders see scope for the token to break more records.
More than 350,000 contracts changed hands after Nasdaq Inc. listed them on Tuesday, and about 80% were bullish bets, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Nine out of the 10 most-traded options wagered on gains. The highest activity was in calls expiring in January with a $55 strike, followed by December expiry at $65 — 25% above the exchange-traded fund’s closing price on Monday.
The options volume was a “good start, demonstrating growing links between the crypto-native ecosystem and the traditional finance world,” said Caroline Mauron, co-founder of Orbit Markets, a provider of liquidity for crypto derivatives. “The volume itself is not large enough yet to drive the direction of the underlying, but positive headlines certainly contributed to a bullish mood.”
ETF Demand
The iShares Bitcoin Trust is the largest portfolio for the token and one of 12 US spot-Bitcoin ETFs. The group has attracted a net inflow of about $29 billion since going live in January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Roughly $5 billion of the deluge materialized in the period after Election Day on Nov. 5.
