Bitcoin Daily: Russian Telcos May Develop Digital Wallet; MicroStrategy To Raise $600 Million To Buy More Bitcoin

MicroStrategy plans to raise $600 million to add additional bitcoin to its investments.

The enterprise software firm will raise the funds by selling convertible senior notes to institutional buyers, according to a press release. The notes will mature on February 15, 2027, unless converted, repurchased or redeemed before then.

Shares of MicroStrategy fell over 7 percent on Tuesday (Feb. 16) after the announcement was made public. The firm already owns 72,000 units of bitcoin worth $3.6 billion, reported CNBC.

MicroStrategy raised funds in a similar manner in December 2020 to purchase bitcoin as well, according to CNBC.

Meanwhile, two Russian mobile network operators are debating developing a digital wallet that could make use of a digital ruble.

Beeline and Megafon are “interested” in developing a wallet that could link a potential Russian central bank digital currency (CBDC) to users’ mobile phone numbers, CoinDesk reported, citing Izvestia.

The Bank of Russia’s current CBDC outline does not provide for maintaining mobile wallets, CoinDesk noted, according to “a Beeline representative.” The representative also said the mobile operators are looking into providing peer-to-peer (P2P) payments that can be transacted on or offline without a financial institution.

“We are interested in such aspects of using the digital ruble as maintaining wallets on smart devices … not just providing a link between the client and the central bank or financial intermediary,” the Beeline representative said.

The Bank of Russia has been researching the potentiality of a digital ruble, PYMNTS previously reported.

In other news, Chinese lottery services firm 500.com has acquired Blockchain Alliance Technologies, the company announced today (Feb. 16). The deal includes the acquisition of BTC.com’s mining pool business and cryptocurrency wallet, run by BitDeer Technologies.

In exchange, 500.com will issue 44,353,435 company shares, about 10 percent of the company’s share capital, to Blockchain Alliance. The deal signals a greater push on the part of 500.com into the cryptocurrency industry.

BTC.com offers users real-time blockchain information as well as cryptocurrency mining management services, according to the press release. Users can save the cryptocurrency they mine in their BTC.com wallet. BTC.com Pool supports bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and bitcoin cash.