Capital International Group, an asset manager headquartered in Los Angeles with a net worth of $2.3 trillion, has recently acquired a 12.2 per cent stake in MicroStrategy. It is one of the largest indirect investors in Bitcoin (BTC) in the world.
According to a filing statement from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, the Capital International Group has now acquired 953,242 MSTR stock worth, with roughly $560 million at current prices. BlackRock is the only company that has a bigger exposure than the business intelligence firm.
Capital International Group works for clients across the financial industry, with dedicated services and departments allotted for wealth managers, pension trustees, family offices, etc. Although the asset manager has yet to make a public comment on the news regarding Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, its investment stake in MicroStrategy suggests that it may be exploring its exposure to digital assets more broadly than anticipated.
MicroStrategy has been keeping its strategic reserves very closely associated with Bitcoin for almost one year after its CEO, Michael Saylor, became convinced that the digital asset represented a new standard for monetary trading and transactions. As reported by Cointelegraph, the company’s recent Bitcoin gambit had a value of $489 million. In early June, MicroStrategy had successfully raised $400 million in debt in order to buy some additional BTC.
MicroStrategy has sort of become part of BTC’s proxy stock due to its oversized exposure to the cryptocurrency. Currently, the company’s Bitcoin holdings are held in a newly created subsidiary known as MacroStrategy LLC.
Although MicroStrategy maintains a very practical business model when it comes to enterprise data analytics, investors increasingly view the company as an alternative to making a direct investment in Bitcoin. Institutional appetite seems to be increasing, as shown clearly by the rapid uptake of Canada’s Purpose Bitcoin ETF, as well as the current success of the GBTC fund of Grayscale.