What is MicroStrategy?

MicroStrategy occupies a somewhat unique position in the cryptocurrency sector since it does not directly deal in blockchain or crypto-related services. It provides business analytics and intelligence services to corporate clients, competing with similar offerings from companies such as IBM, Oracle, and SAP.

However, MicroStrategy has become closely linked to the cryptocurrency sector thanks to its substantial investments in Bitcoin, while its outspoken founder, Michael Saylor, has become a vocal proponent of crypto investing.

History of MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy was founded in Delaware in 1989 by Michael Saylor and businessman Sanju Bansal after the pair met while studying at MIT. Saylor took a consulting contract from Dupont for the development of computer simulation models and used it as the basis for starting the company. MicroStrategy experienced rapid growth during the 1990s and 2000s as enterprises became increasingly digitalized.

In 1998, MicroStrategy underwent an initial public offering and appeared to continue its growth trajectory. However, in 2000, the share price fell dramatically after the company announced it would restate its financial results for the preceding two years.

This was followed up by an SEC lawsuit against MicroStrategy and executives, including Saylor and Bansal. The suit was settled without any admission of wrongdoing, and the firm agreed to take specific measures to enhance regulatory compliance.

MicroStrategy’s platform

MicroStrategy’s core offering is a business intelligence platform, the current version of which is called MicroStrategy ONE. It aggregates data from internal and external sources to help firms make decisions. It uses a semantic layer combined with AI to process and represent data, enabling enterprise users to build various types of reports and analytics dashboards without extensive knowledge of databases.

The MicroStrategy platform also incorporates the ability to build AI applications. For example, conversational AI can be used to ask questions about data, drill down into specific findings, or instruct different ways to visualize outputs for presentation purposes.

The platform’s Auto Dashboard builder is also powered by AI, enabling users to customize their own view and content, including at the team or department level.

The HyperIntelligence feature allows for the augmentation of documents and applications with contextual information driven by business intelligence. Users with the HyperIntelligence extension enabled on a web browser can hover over particular items to bring up “Hypercards” –  small dashboards with information relevant to the item.

Embedded Analytics allows a firm to make analytics features available to anyone by embedding them into a web page, application, or document.

MicroStrategy integrates with multiple cloud providers, including AWS, Google, and Microsoft Azure. The firm’s customers include the Hilton Hotel group, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Amica Mutual Insurance.

MicroStrategy Bitcoin strategy

In 2020, Michael Saylor announced that MicroStrategy would be exploring alternative assets to add to its balance sheet, including gold and Bitcoin. It was the first non-crypto company to begin using Bitcoin as a reserve asset. Since that time, the company has become the single largest corporate Bitcoin investor, accumulating over 226,000 BTC, representing 1.078% of the maximum total supply.

As of July 2024, this was more than twelve times the amount of BTC held by the next largest corporate investor (Marathon Digital, with 18,500 BTC) and represented more than $15 billion in value on MicroStrategy’s balance sheet.

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin investments are a substantial component of the company’s overall worth, making its stock a proxy for BTC itself and offering an indirect way to gain exposure to the volatility of the cryptocurrency without holding it. In May 2024, following Bitcoin’s new all-time high two months earlier, MicroStrategy’s increase in valuation resulting from the rally meant the company was added to the MSCI World Index, which tracks the largest global companies by market cap.

In 2022, Saylor resigned as CEO of MicroStrategy but remained at the firm as Executive Chairman. Phong Le, previously the company President, took over as CEO. Saylor stated in the announcement that the move would allow him to focus more on the firm’s Bitcoin acquisition strategy, putting Phong in control of the company’s wider operations.

Saylor remains one of the most vocal and prominent proponents of Bitcoin, making frequent appearances in the media and on the crypto event circuit to assert his bullish sentiments. Due to this and his personal status as a Bitcoin whale, (Saylor holds over 17,000 BTC in his own right), he is considered a leading influencer in the crypto community.

MicroStrategy essentials

• MicroStrategy is a US company that has been operating since 1989 and is focused on business intelligence and analytics services.
• The firm has become renowned for its Bitcoin investing strategy as the largest corporate BTC holder, with stock prices closely tracking BTC prices.
• MicroStrategy remains a key player in its sector thanks to the capabilities of its MicroStrategy ONE platform, which makes extensive use of AI to reduce technical barriers.