MicroStrategy, a major player in the crypto space, has made its biggest purchase in three years: nearly 20,000 more bitcoins for $1.1 billion.

MicroStrategy(MSTR.US) recently bought 18,300 bitcoins for approximately $1.11 billion, its largest single investment in the digital asset in more than three years, according to a filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. The enterprise software maker completed the purchase between August 6 and September 12, according to the document.

MicroStrategy now owns about 244,800 bitcoins, worth about $14 billion, or nearly 1% of the total bitcoins ever issued. In comparison, the iShares Bitcoin Trust managed by BlackRock, the world's largest bitcoin fund, has a size of about $20 billion.

The average cost of MicroStrategy's bitcoins is about $38,585, and the total investment is about $9.45 billion, according to the document. On Friday, the price of bitcoin was largely flat, trading around $57,880, and further rose after the U.S. stock market closed, breaking the $60,000 mark for the first time since late August, with a 24-hour gain of more than 10%. As of the time of writing, bitcoin was up 3.86% to $60,079.

MicroStrategy began buying bitcoins as part of its capital allocation strategy in 2020, and its co-founder and chairman Michael Saylor said the move was to hedge against inflation risk. While Saylor has won support in the bitcoin community, few U.S. companies have chosen to hold the volatile cryptocurrency on their balance sheets, with Tesla among the few exceptions.

To fund the recent bitcoin purchase, MicroStrategy raised funds through the issuance and sale of common stock. In August this year, the company implemented a 1:10 stock split, aimed at making the stock more accessible to investors and employees.

MicroStrategy's stock has more than doubled this year, outperforming the approximately 40% rise in bitcoin prices during the same period.