Business intelligence company MicroStrategy (MSTR) earlier on Monday was sitting on more than a $2 billion profit on its massive holdings of bitcoin (BTC) following the crypto’s rally above $42,000.

Led by then CEO and now Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy began purchasing bitcoin in August 2020. The company's most recent purchases took place last month and as of Nov. 30, MicroStrategy held 174,530 bitcoin acquired for $5.28 billion, or an average price of $30,252 each.

With bitcoin at $42,000 earlier Monday, the value of MSTR's holdings rose to roughly $7.3 billion, or more than a $2 billion profit. The price at press time had pulled back modestly to $41,700.

Bitcoin (BTC) has not seen such a high level since April 2022, or before the crash of the Terra ecosystem. At its lowest during the bear market of 2022, bitcoin had pulled back to under $16,000, putting MicroStrategy's bet deep in the red. Saylor, however, continued to add to the company's holdings, funding purchases with a mixture of debt and equity issuance.

Microstrategy (MSTR) shares were trading around 6% higher on Monday.

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Lyllah Ledesma

Lyllah Ledesma is a CoinDesk Markets reporter currently based in Europe. She holds a master's degree from New York University in Business and Economics and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of East Anglia. Lyllah holds bitcoin, ether and small amounts of other crypto assets.