MicroStrategy CEO Saylor Says No Margin Call on Bitcoin Loan

(Bloomberg) — MicroStrategy Inc. Chief Executive Michael Saylor told investors not to worry about a potential margin call on a Bitcoin-backed loan, saying the company has ample collateral to pledge if necessary.

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“As long as the Silvergate loan remains collateralized with an LTV less than 50%, there is no margin call,” Saylor wrote in a email to Bloomberg, referring to loan-to-value metrics. “We manage accordingly.”

The software firm said on a conference call in May that the price of the Bitcoin would need to fall to around $21,000 before a call would be triggered on its $205 million loan from a unit of Silvergate Bank, but that it may contribute more to the collateral package so it never gets there. Bitcoin was trading around $22,500 Tuesday after dipping as low as $20,800 earlier in the session.

“When @MicroStrategy adopted a #Bitcoin Strategy, it anticipated volatility and structured its balance sheet so that it could continue to #HODL through adversity,” Saylor tweeted earlier in the day.

Over the last two years the software-maker has shelled out $3.97 billion as it amassed nearly 130,000 Bitcoins. The firm’s average purchase price for those tokens has steadily risen with each additional purchase since 2020 and sits at $30,700 as of March 31, according to its latest quarterly filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The paper loss for the firm’s holdings has reached roughly $1 billion.

BTIG analyst Mark Palmer also said the company should have plenty of Bitcoin to meet any margin call as the firm has more than 95,000 Bitcoins to post as collateral. The firm is required to maintain a loan-to-collateral ratio of 50% or less and has at least $410 million worth of Bitcoin in a custody account.

“There is no liquidation provision here,” Palmer said in a phone interview, also noting there is a “vast amount of confusion” over the loan agreement.

The company has about $2.2 billion in debt, roughly $44 million in annual interest expenses and is expected to generate $90 million of free cash flow in 2022, Palmer added.

MicroStrategy’s 6.125% notes due in 2028 last traded at about 80 cents on the dollar, according to Trace bond trading data. The bond was at par in January.

Shares of MicroStrategy rose 6.5% to %162.02 as of 1:53 p.m. in New York. That had tumbled 25% on Monday, and are down around 70% this year.