Bitcoin drives back toward $80K—but one billionaire may be fueling much of the rally

Bitcoin’s price has climbed roughly 15% over the past month, and crossed above $79,000 over the weekend. The oldest cryptocurrency is now sitting at around $77,000, which is the highest the token has traded since an early February selloff, but it’s unclear how durable this latest rally will prove to be.

Markets more broadly have enjoyed a bullish April, with the S&P 500 enjoying a nearly 9% gain, but Bitcoin investors may have gotten an extra boost thanks to billionaire Michael Saylor. His firm, Strategy, has a business based around acquiring Bitcoin, with Saylor using his outsize social media presence to post memes exhorting others to do the same.  

Strategy acquired over 100,000 Bitcoin in March and April, worth over $7.7 billion at current prices. During the buying spree, the company surpassed BlackRock’s popular Bitcoin ETF in total Bitcoin holdings.

But Strategy’s pace of Bitcoin acquisition slowed last week, when the firm acquired 3,273 Bitcoin for $255 million. That may be owing largely to a slowdown in sales of Strategy’s perpetual preferred shares, which the company calls STRC. The product, which was launched by Saylor’s firm in July 2025, pays an 11.5% dividend, and Strategy buys Bitcoin with the proceeds from selling STRC. The instrument i...