Today, Strategy is one of the most important institutions in cryptocurrency, but it didn’t start out that way.
Originally called MicroStrategy, the company co-founded by Michael Saylor—one of the most influential figures in the world of Bitcoin—first made its mark in software
Now, however, it’s best known for its aggressive strategy of acquiring Bitcoin for its corporate reserves, with Saylor becoming a figurehead for the institutional adoption of the asset. Here’s everything else you need to know about Strategy and its relationship with Bitcoin. What is Strategy?
Before it added Bitcoin to its balance sheet, Strategy was best known for its business intelligence software solutions, which were designed to help businesses more easily analyze data for improved decision making. Founded in 1989 by Michael Saylor, Strategy quickly became successful, going public and trading on the NASDAQ in 1998 as MSTR. But just two years later, Saylor and two other top executives at Strategy had to settle a case with the SEC, which alleged that the company had “materially overstated revenues and earnings from the sales of software and information services.” After a brief spike in its share price in 2000, MSTR traded in a tight range for the next two decades, only beginning to make a major move upwards at the end of 2020—the same year it announced its first Bitcoin purchase.