CoinMarketCap News, Nov. 2: MicroStrategy's Buying a Lot Less Bitcoin

MicroStrategy took a $727,000 impairment charge on its Bitcoin investment in the third quarter of 2022 — compared with $917.8 million three months ago. The headline figure from the business intelligence firm's latest results reflect how BTC has become more stable following extreme downward volatility earlier this year. But in a reflection of a challenging bear market, MicroStrategy snapped up just 301 BTC in the most recent quarter — a stark contrast to the 9,000 BTC it bought a year ago. It's been almost a year since Bitcoin hit a record high of $68,700 — and since then, the value of the company's warchest has dwindled by close to $5 billion… meaning it's now sitting on unrealized losses.

Despite the gloomy market conditions, MicroStrategy's President Phong Le said the company will not sell its Bitcoin — and has a "long-term time horizon." He also revealed that the company is planning to develop Bitcoin Lightning software to help businesses monetize websites and deploy wallets en masse. And Michael Saylor, who is now the company's executive chairman, went on to point out that MicroStrategy's stock is outperforming "all of the major asset classes that we benchmark ourselves against" — beating tech stocks by gaining 116% since August 2020. Bitcoin is also up 72%.

MakerDAO co-founder Nikolai Muchgian has been found dead in Puerto Rico. He was 29 years old — and reports suggest he was swept away by sea currents on Oct. 28. Although his body was later retrieved by rescue officials, he was showing no vital signs. Fellow co-founder Rune Christensen paid tribute to Muchgian, tweeting: "Nikolai was one of the only people in the early days of Ethereum and smart contracts who was able to predict the possibility of smart contract hacks and invented the security-oriented approach to smart contract design we know today. Maker would have been toast without him."

Boris Johnson has raised eyebrows after it was announced that he's going to be the keynote speaker at a blockchain conference. The former British prime minister — who has just failed at a second attempt to secure the top job — will make an appearance at Singapore's International Symposium on Blockchain Advancements in December. Johnson is set to be joined by former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney at the event, and it's fair to say that both will be compensated handsomely for their appearances. Given Boris's unconventional speaking style, which involves a lot of bumbling and plenty of Latin phrases, it's unclear how much value he'll actually add.