亿万富翁迈克尔·塞勒（Michael Saylor）过去也曾身陷困境，但从未像这次这般严重。塞勒的公司Strategy持有全球超过3%的比特币，其股价已大幅下跌。更糟的是，该公司面临双重逆风：看跌的加密货币市场，以及一项即将实施的规则变更，后者很可能引发其股票的大规模抛售。周一，该公司宣布设立12亿美元的准备金，以应对即将到期的利息和股息支付义务，但这几乎未能支撑其股价。这一切引发了塞勒的批评者的新一轮攻击，他们称Strategy围绕“卖股买币”的独特商业模式不可持续，甚至是一个庞氏骗局。
塞勒过去曾安然渡过风暴。其中包括2000年的一场会计丑闻，几乎让他当时的一家公司倒闭，并让他在一天内损失了60亿美元的个人财富。与此同时，塞勒的辩护者则认为批评者是条件反射式的比特币贬低者，他们既不了解这种货币，也不理解Strategy运营所依赖的企业融资技术。
塞勒或许能像过去一样摆脱这次困境，但这次赌注更高。近年来，Strategy的购买行为助推了加密货币创纪录的上涨，并将塞勒变成了比特币的头号布道者。这意味着，Strategy若采取行动抛售部分持仓——其首席执行官上周暗示可能会这样做——不仅会打压价格，还可能引发信心危机和更广泛的抛售。同时，Strategy股价的进一步暴跌不仅可能威胁其未来的生存能力，还可能促使数十家效仿其商业模式的公司崩溃。未来几个月很可能将最终证明，塞勒究竟是如其支持者所声称的加密金融先驱，还是又一个运气耗尽的豪赌之徒。
迫近的80亿美元抛售潮
加密货币行业喜欢将十月称为“上涨月”（Uptober），但今年未能带来惯常的两位数价格上涨。相反，这个月带来了该行业历史上最大的暴跌之一。而对Strategy来说，10月10日金融巨头明晟（MSCI）提出了一项新规，拟将其排除在一系列热门指数之外，这更是雪上加霜。
这项预计将于明年2月生效的剔除程序，将迫使全球基金经理抛售Strategy以及其他加密资产占比达到或超过50%的公司的股票。11月，摩根大通（JPMorgan）警告称，规则变更可能导致基金抛售价值23亿美元的Strategy股票，如果其他指数编制者效仿明晟的做法，抛售规模可能攀升至超过80亿美元。
市场对明晟计划的日益了解已经引发了抛售。自10月1日以来，Strategy股票（股票代码MSTR反映了其前名Microstrategy）下跌了约50%。这导致一个名为mNAV的关键指标（反映加密货币公司股票市值与其比特币持仓价值的比率）在最近几次跌破1。对于一家一年前mNAV曾达到约2.45的公司来说，当前数字凸显了Strategy股票长期以来对比特币的溢价已经蒸发殆尽。
面对接踵而至的坏消息，大多数CEO会发表一系列温和的声明，请求耐心。但塞勒不是普通的CEO，他的应对方式是在社交媒体上大搞认知作战。很多自媒体开始颂扬比特币，并将塞勒描绘成AI生成的动作英雄姿态——引导他的众多追随者转发这些迷因或发布自己的版本。
这些认知作战过去为塞勒带来了很好的效果，在牛市中使Strategy成为动量交易的目标。然而，最近这种噱头未能止住股价的下跌趋势，上个月，塞勒发布了一个罕见的社交媒体失误。为了反驳公司正在抛售比特币的谣言，塞勒分享了一张图片：在波涛汹涌的海面上，他骑在一个救生圈上，身后是一艘正在燃烧下沉的远洋客轮。批评者，包括塞勒的粉丝，指出这个图片暗示Strategy的船长在危难时刻只顾自救，而不是与船共存亡。
无论塞勒意图如何，这场小争议引发了人们对Strategy是否会诉诸出售其比特币持仓的质疑——该公司曾将此举描绘为不可想象，但最近几周似乎已准备接受。
卖股票买比特币
11月下旬，Strategy收购了130枚比特币，使其总储备达到整整65万枚，按12月初的价格计算价值约585亿美元。作为对比，这大约占比特币总供应量2100万枚的3.1%（其中95%已被挖出），并使Strategy成为除其创造者中本聪（Satoshi Nakamoto）之外该货币的最大持有者，而中本聪持有的110万枚比特币被认为已永久消失。
据塞勒称，该公司为每枚比特币支付的平均价格为74,436美元，总计花费了约484亿美元，包括费用和开支。为了实现这一点，Strategy需要一个资金来源。鉴于比特币不产生任何收益，该公司首选的技术一直是出售普通股来为其购买提供资金。
这种方法的一大好处是，与债务不同，普通股不会给公司带来任何财务义务。然而，优先股则不同——Strategy也发行了大量优先股，这要求它必须定期向股东支付股息。这些义务包括约2亿美元需在12月31日前支付的款项，其中大部分以股息形式支付（与大多数公司一样，Strategy也承担一些债务）。
为了展现财务稳定的形象，Strategy在12月初采取了不寻常的措施，创建了一个所谓的14亿美元美元储备金。塞勒称，这笔资金将足以支付未来21个月的股息义务。
塞勒在12月1日的投资者介绍会上宣布了这项储备基金，并以其一贯的吹嘘口气补充道：“我们的意图是继续增持比特币。”然而在不久的将来，这个目标很可能只是愿望而已，Strategy反而可能会发现自己正在出售比特币。
“我们可以出售比特币，而且如果我们需要在mNAV低于1倍的情况下为股息支付提供资金，我们就会出售比特币，”Strategy首席执行官冯乐（Phong Le）上周五在一个播客节目中说。对于一家以比特币价值持续增长为前提的公司来说，这是一个不同寻常的声明。更值得注意的是，经常鼓励人们“HODL”（坚持持有比特币）这句流行语的塞勒，周一也重复表示Strategy可能会出售一些比特币。
周二，Strategy首席财务官安德鲁·康（Andrew Kang）对这一声明进行了限定，称公司计划将出售比特币作为最后手段，并且只有在mNAV“非常长的一段时期内”保持在1倍以下时才会这么做。
无论具体细节如何，Strategy承认可能出售比特币，再加上新的美元储备基金，已引发Strategy批评者的新一轮猛烈抨击。其中包括黄金行业的拥护者、长期的加密货币批评者彼得·希夫（Peter Schiff），他声称该公司正在瓦解，并称塞勒是华尔街“最大的骗子”。
今天是$MSTR终结的开始。塞勒被迫出售股票不是为了购买比特币，而只是为了购买美元来支付MSTR的利息和股息义务。这只股票已经崩溃。其商业模式是欺诈，而@Saylor是华尔街头号骗子。
**——彼得·希夫 (@PeterSchiff) **2025年12月1日
如果希夫的观点——远非共识——是正确的，并且Strategy不得不清算，那么更广泛的加密货币市场可能会受到重创，因为抛售几乎肯定会引发比特币价格的螺旋式下跌。即使Strategy只出售其持仓的一部分，也可能引发连锁反应，导致数百家其他所谓的数字资产库（DAT）效仿。
但即使怀疑论者将Strategy和DAT模式标记为建立在金融欺诈基础上的纸牌屋，其他人仍视它们为一个新兴类别——加密银行的早期领导者。
“所有坏消息都已出尽”
无论人们对塞勒看法如何，不可否认他天生就是个爱作秀的人。在他12月1日宣布新美元储备金的演示中，他展示了一艘外观未来感十足、颜色花哨（绿色和橙色）的宇宙飞船，其核心是一个由比特币驱动的反应堆。“可以把（美元储备金）想象成一块美元电池。我们基本上是用一个核反应堆来驱动发电机给电池充电，”塞勒解释道。
在塞勒的贬低者看来，这一切都散发着最糟糕的江湖骗术气息。其他人则看到了一位有远见的人，他使用引人注目的隐喻和意象来帮助公众理解一种复杂的新金融机制。
后者包括塞巴斯蒂安·比亚（Sebastian Bea），他曾是贝莱德（BlackRock）的长期高管和奥运赛艇运动员，现在是一家名为ReserveOne的数字资产库的总裁。据比亚称，塞勒正在执行一项复杂的长期战略，并且身边聚集了一支企业融资专家团队，包括董事会成员彼得·布里格（Peter Briger），后者在高盛（Goldman Sachs）和堡垒投资集团（Fortress Investment Group）拥有杰出的职业生涯。
在这种背景下，塞勒计划通过利用股权、商品和衍生品等资本市场来购买不断增长的比特币供应，这是有道理的。正如他和Strategy的首席财务官本周解释的那样，该计划包括通过出借比特币和出售备兑认购期权来获取收入。
然而，要使这一切奏效，比特币的价值必须持续增值。这种观念在加密货币怀疑者看来是荒谬的，但加密货币拥护者正确地指出，在过去十年中，比特币的增长速度几乎超过了任何其他资产，并且随着从主权财富基金到大学捐赠基金等大型实体将其加入投资组合，它有望获得长期收益。最新的看涨信号是，多年来一直拒绝将加密货币加入其投资组合的先锋领航集团（Vanguard）决定在本周增持比特币和其他加密货币ETF。
如果比特币确实持续升值，Strategy将能够继续以其剩余价值获得信贷，就像公司在理想的市场中可以用房地产做的那样。当然会有低迷期，但据比亚称，Strategy“已为此做好计划”，并且拥有健康的总体资产债务比率。
比亚补充说，最近涌现的数字资产库公司类似于一种新型银行，它们的模式正在迅速发展。他指出，包括ReserveOne在内的一些公司以以太坊等确实能提供收益的加密货币为基础（这与比特币不同），这为企业融资方面提供了额外的喘息空间。比亚承认明晟即将把DATs排除在指数之外的做法可能是一个重大的不利因素，并表示以加密资产持有为基础的公司需要时间来发展。
专注于加密货币的风险投资公司Pantera的合伙人科斯莫·蒋（Cosmo Jiang）同样相信，数字资产库——包括他支持的一家专注于Solana的公司——将成为金融格局的永久特征。
“我们正在见证一个全新商业类别的诞生，”蒋告诉《财富》杂志，并补充说DATs准备从快速发展的去中心化金融世界中赚取可观的收入。
在向彭博社（Bloomberg）发表的另一番讲话中，蒋提出理由，认为该行业目前处于低点，但目前围绕Strategy及类似公司的低迷是暂时的。“我们现在处于所有坏消息都已出尽，而空头声音最大的阶段。”
然而，蒋指出，最近一波加密货币囤积公司中有许多不太可能生存下来，这种商业模式不仅需要囤积代币，还需要深厚的资本市场和企业融资经验。
他预测，对于每种主要的加密货币，“将有两到三家大的赢家”。如果情况确实如此，未来几个月很可能将决定Strategy是否是其中之一。（*）
译者：中慧言-王芳
亿万富翁迈克尔·塞勒（Michael Saylor）过去也曾身陷困境，但从未像这次这般严重。塞勒的公司Strategy持有全球超过3%的比特币，其股价已大幅下跌。更糟的是，该公司面临双重逆风：看跌的加密货币市场，以及一项即将实施的规则变更，后者很可能引发其股票的大规模抛售。周一，该公司宣布设立12亿美元的准备金，以应对即将到期的利息和股息支付义务，但这几乎未能支撑其股价。这一切引发了塞勒的批评者的新一轮攻击，他们称Strategy围绕“卖股买币”的独特商业模式不可持续，甚至是一个庞氏骗局。
塞勒过去曾安然渡过风暴。其中包括2000年的一场会计丑闻，几乎让他当时的一家公司倒闭，并让他在一天内损失了60亿美元的个人财富。与此同时，塞勒的辩护者则认为批评者是条件反射式的比特币贬低者，他们既不了解这种货币，也不理解Strategy运营所依赖的企业融资技术。
塞勒或许能像过去一样摆脱这次困境，但这次赌注更高。近年来，Strategy的购买行为助推了加密货币创纪录的上涨，并将塞勒变成了比特币的头号布道者。这意味着，Strategy若采取行动抛售部分持仓——其首席执行官上周暗示可能会这样做——不仅会打压价格，还可能引发信心危机和更广泛的抛售。同时，Strategy股价的进一步暴跌不仅可能威胁其未来的生存能力，还可能促使数十家效仿其商业模式的公司崩溃。未来几个月很可能将最终证明，塞勒究竟是如其支持者所声称的加密金融先驱，还是又一个运气耗尽的豪赌之徒。
迫近的80亿美元抛售潮
加密货币行业喜欢将十月称为“上涨月”（Uptober），但今年未能带来惯常的两位数价格上涨。相反，这个月带来了该行业历史上最大的暴跌之一。而对Strategy来说，10月10日金融巨头明晟（MSCI）提出了一项新规，拟将其排除在一系列热门指数之外，这更是雪上加霜。
这项预计将于明年2月生效的剔除程序，将迫使全球基金经理抛售Strategy以及其他加密资产占比达到或超过50%的公司的股票。11月，摩根大通（JPMorgan）警告称，规则变更可能导致基金抛售价值23亿美元的Strategy股票，如果其他指数编制者效仿明晟的做法，抛售规模可能攀升至超过80亿美元。
市场对明晟计划的日益了解已经引发了抛售。自10月1日以来，Strategy股票（股票代码MSTR反映了其前名Microstrategy）下跌了约50%。这导致一个名为mNAV的关键指标（反映加密货币公司股票市值与其比特币持仓价值的比率）在最近几次跌破1。对于一家一年前mNAV曾达到约2.45的公司来说，当前数字凸显了Strategy股票长期以来对比特币的溢价已经蒸发殆尽。
面对接踵而至的坏消息，大多数CEO会发表一系列温和的声明，请求耐心。但塞勒不是普通的CEO，他的应对方式是在社交媒体上大搞认知作战。很多自媒体开始颂扬比特币，并将塞勒描绘成AI生成的动作英雄姿态——引导他的众多追随者转发这些迷因或发布自己的版本。
这些认知作战过去为塞勒带来了很好的效果，在牛市中使Strategy成为动量交易的目标。然而，最近这种噱头未能止住股价的下跌趋势，上个月，塞勒发布了一个罕见的社交媒体失误。为了反驳公司正在抛售比特币的谣言，塞勒分享了一张图片：在波涛汹涌的海面上，他骑在一个救生圈上，身后是一艘正在燃烧下沉的远洋客轮。批评者，包括塞勒的粉丝，指出这个图片暗示Strategy的船长在危难时刻只顾自救，而不是与船共存亡。
无论塞勒意图如何，这场小争议引发了人们对Strategy是否会诉诸出售其比特币持仓的质疑——该公司曾将此举描绘为不可想象，但最近几周似乎已准备接受。
卖股票买比特币
11月下旬，Strategy收购了130枚比特币，使其总储备达到整整65万枚，按12月初的价格计算价值约585亿美元。作为对比，这大约占比特币总供应量2100万枚的3.1%（其中95%已被挖出），并使Strategy成为除其创造者中本聪（Satoshi Nakamoto）之外该货币的最大持有者，而中本聪持有的110万枚比特币被认为已永久消失。
据塞勒称，该公司为每枚比特币支付的平均价格为74,436美元，总计花费了约484亿美元，包括费用和开支。为了实现这一点，Strategy需要一个资金来源。鉴于比特币不产生任何收益，该公司首选的技术一直是出售普通股来为其购买提供资金。
这种方法的一大好处是，与债务不同，普通股不会给公司带来任何财务义务。然而，优先股则不同——Strategy也发行了大量优先股，这要求它必须定期向股东支付股息。这些义务包括约2亿美元需在12月31日前支付的款项，其中大部分以股息形式支付（与大多数公司一样，Strategy也承担一些债务）。
为了展现财务稳定的形象，Strategy在12月初采取了不寻常的措施，创建了一个所谓的14亿美元美元储备金。塞勒称，这笔资金将足以支付未来21个月的股息义务。
塞勒在12月1日的投资者介绍会上宣布了这项储备基金，并以其一贯的吹嘘口气补充道：“我们的意图是继续增持比特币。”然而在不久的将来，这个目标很可能只是愿望而已，Strategy反而可能会发现自己正在出售比特币。
“我们可以出售比特币，而且如果我们需要在mNAV低于1倍的情况下为股息支付提供资金，我们就会出售比特币，”Strategy首席执行官冯乐（Phong Le）上周五在一个播客节目中说。对于一家以比特币价值持续增长为前提的公司来说，这是一个不同寻常的声明。更值得注意的是，经常鼓励人们“HODL”（坚持持有比特币）这句流行语的塞勒，周一也重复表示Strategy可能会出售一些比特币。
周二，Strategy首席财务官安德鲁·康（Andrew Kang）对这一声明进行了限定，称公司计划将出售比特币作为最后手段，并且只有在mNAV“非常长的一段时期内”保持在1倍以下时才会这么做。
无论具体细节如何，Strategy承认可能出售比特币，再加上新的美元储备基金，已引发Strategy批评者的新一轮猛烈抨击。其中包括黄金行业的拥护者、长期的加密货币批评者彼得·希夫（Peter Schiff），他声称该公司正在瓦解，并称塞勒是华尔街“最大的骗子”。
今天是$MSTR终结的开始。塞勒被迫出售股票不是为了购买比特币，而只是为了购买美元来支付MSTR的利息和股息义务。这只股票已经崩溃。其商业模式是欺诈，而@Saylor是华尔街头号骗子。
**——彼得·希夫 (@PeterSchiff) **2025年12月1日
如果希夫的观点——远非共识——是正确的，并且Strategy不得不清算，那么更广泛的加密货币市场可能会受到重创，因为抛售几乎肯定会引发比特币价格的螺旋式下跌。即使Strategy只出售其持仓的一部分，也可能引发连锁反应，导致数百家其他所谓的数字资产库（DAT）效仿。
但即使怀疑论者将Strategy和DAT模式标记为建立在金融欺诈基础上的纸牌屋，其他人仍视它们为一个新兴类别——加密银行的早期领导者。
“所有坏消息都已出尽”
无论人们对塞勒看法如何，不可否认他天生就是个爱作秀的人。在他12月1日宣布新美元储备金的演示中，他展示了一艘外观未来感十足、颜色花哨（绿色和橙色）的宇宙飞船，其核心是一个由比特币驱动的反应堆。“可以把（美元储备金）想象成一块美元电池。我们基本上是用一个核反应堆来驱动发电机给电池充电，”塞勒解释道。
在塞勒的贬低者看来，这一切都散发着最糟糕的江湖骗术气息。其他人则看到了一位有远见的人，他使用引人注目的隐喻和意象来帮助公众理解一种复杂的新金融机制。
后者包括塞巴斯蒂安·比亚（Sebastian Bea），他曾是贝莱德（BlackRock）的长期高管和奥运赛艇运动员，现在是一家名为ReserveOne的数字资产库的总裁。据比亚称，塞勒正在执行一项复杂的长期战略，并且身边聚集了一支企业融资专家团队，包括董事会成员彼得·布里格（Peter Briger），后者在高盛（Goldman Sachs）和堡垒投资集团（Fortress Investment Group）拥有杰出的职业生涯。
在这种背景下，塞勒计划通过利用股权、商品和衍生品等资本市场来购买不断增长的比特币供应，这是有道理的。正如他和Strategy的首席财务官本周解释的那样，该计划包括通过出借比特币和出售备兑认购期权来获取收入。
然而，要使这一切奏效，比特币的价值必须持续增值。这种观念在加密货币怀疑者看来是荒谬的，但加密货币拥护者正确地指出，在过去十年中，比特币的增长速度几乎超过了任何其他资产，并且随着从主权财富基金到大学捐赠基金等大型实体将其加入投资组合，它有望获得长期收益。最新的看涨信号是，多年来一直拒绝将加密货币加入其投资组合的先锋领航集团（Vanguard）决定在本周增持比特币和其他加密货币ETF。
如果比特币确实持续升值，Strategy将能够继续以其剩余价值获得信贷，就像公司在理想的市场中可以用房地产做的那样。当然会有低迷期，但据比亚称，Strategy“已为此做好计划”，并且拥有健康的总体资产债务比率。
比亚补充说，最近涌现的数字资产库公司类似于一种新型银行，它们的模式正在迅速发展。他指出，包括ReserveOne在内的一些公司以以太坊等确实能提供收益的加密货币为基础（这与比特币不同），这为企业融资方面提供了额外的喘息空间。比亚承认明晟即将把DATs排除在指数之外的做法可能是一个重大的不利因素，并表示以加密资产持有为基础的公司需要时间来发展。
专注于加密货币的风险投资公司Pantera的合伙人科斯莫·蒋（Cosmo Jiang）同样相信，数字资产库——包括他支持的一家专注于Solana的公司——将成为金融格局的永久特征。
“我们正在见证一个全新商业类别的诞生，”蒋告诉《财富》杂志，并补充说DATs准备从快速发展的去中心化金融世界中赚取可观的收入。
在向彭博社（Bloomberg）发表的另一番讲话中，蒋提出理由，认为该行业目前处于低点，但目前围绕Strategy及类似公司的低迷是暂时的。“我们现在处于所有坏消息都已出尽，而空头声音最大的阶段。”
然而，蒋指出，最近一波加密货币囤积公司中有许多不太可能生存下来，这种商业模式不仅需要囤积代币，还需要深厚的资本市场和企业融资经验。
他预测，对于每种主要的加密货币，“将有两到三家大的赢家”。如果情况确实如此，未来几个月很可能将决定Strategy是否是其中之一。（*）
译者：中慧言-王芳
Billionaire Michael Saylor has been in tight spots before but nothing like this. The share price of Saylor's firm, Strategy, which owns over 3% of the world's Bitcoin, is down dramatically. Worse, the company faces twin headwinds in the form of a bearish crypto market and an impending rule change that will likely trigger a mass selloff of its stock. On Monday, the company announced a $1.2 billion reserve fund to meet impending interest and dividend obligations, but that did little to prop up its shares. All of this fueled fresh attacks from Saylor's critics who say Strategy's unusual business model, which revolves around selling stock to buy Bitcoin, is unsustainable or even a Ponzi scheme.
Saylor has ridden out storms in the past. That includes an accounting scandal in 2000 that almost sank one of his previous companies and saw him lose $6 billion of his personal fortune in a day. Saylor's defenders, meanwhile, dismiss critics as knee-jerk Bitcoin detractors who don't understand the currency or the corporate finance techniques underlying Strategy's operations.
Saylor may escape from this bind, as he has in the past, but this time the stakes are higher. In recent years, Strategy's purchases have helped fuel crypto's record rise, and turned Saylor into Bitcoin's leading evangelist. This means any move by Strategy to dump part of its holdings---something its CEO hinted last week could happen---would not only depress prices, but could spark a crisis of confidence and a broader selloff. Meanwhile, a further plunge in Strategy's share price could not only threaten its future viability, but spur the collapse of dozens of other firms that have copied its business model. The coming months are likely to demonstrate once and for all whether Saylor is a pioneer in crypto finance, as his backers claim, or just another high-stakes gambler whose luck has run out.
A looming $8 billion selloff
The crypto industry likes to hail October as "Uptober," but this year failed to deliver the customary double-digit price boost. Instead, the month brought one of the biggest wipeouts in the industry's history, and for Strategy, the month brought an extra helping of bad news when, on Oct. 10, financial giant MSCI proposed a new rule that would exclude it from a series of popular indexes.
This delisting process, which looks set to go into effect in February, would oblige fund managers around the world to shed their holdings of Strategy, and other firms whose assets consist of 50% or more of crypto. In November, JPMorgan warned the rule change could see funds dump $2.3 billion worth of Strategy shares, and that the selloff could climb to over $8 billion if other index compilers followed MSCI's example.
The market's growing awareness about MSCI's plans has already triggered a selloff. Shares of MSTR (the MSTR ticker sign reflects Strategy's previous name, Microstrategy) are down around 50% since Oct. 1. This has led a key metric known as mNAV, which reflects the value of a crypto company's shares as a ratio of its Bitcoin holdings, to drop below one on several recent occasions. For a company whose mNAV a year ago reached around 2.45, the current figure underscores how the longtime premium that Strategy shares held over Bitcoin has evaporated.
In response to such a spate of bad news, most CEOs would have issued a series of muted statements asking for patience. But Saylor is not an ordinary CEO and has instead responded by cranking up the number of memes he posts on social media. The memes extol Bitcoin and depict Saylor in AI-generated action hero poses---leading his many acolytes to retweet the memes or post their own version of them.
These meme tactics have served Saylor well in the past, turning Strategy into a momentum play during bull markets. More recently, though, the gimmick has failed to stanch the stock's downturn, and last month, Saylor posted a rare social media misfire. Seeking to rebut a rumor the company was selling its Bitcoin, Saylor shared an image of himself riding a life preserver in storm-tossed seas as a flaming ocean liner sank behind him. Critics, including Saylor fans, pointed out the meme implied Strategy's captain was saving himself at a time of trouble rather than going down with his ship.
Regardless of Saylor's intent, the minor controversy raises questions about whether Strategy will resort to selling its Bitcoin holdings---a move the company has portrayed as unthinkable but, in recent weeks, appears set to accept.
Selling stock to buy Bitcoin
In late November, Strategy acquired 130 Bitcoin, bringing its total hoard to an even 650,000, which is worth around $58.5 billion at early December prices. For context, that amounts to around 3.1% of Bitcoin's total supply of 21 million (95% of which has been mined), and makes Strategy the biggest holder of the currency save for its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, whose 1.1 million coins are believed to be gone forever.
According to Saylor, the company has paid an average price of $74,436 per Bitcoin, spending a total of around $48.4 billion, including fees and expenses. In order to pull this off, Strategy has needed a source of capital, and given that Bitcoin does not produce any yield, the company's go-to technique has been to sell common shares to fund its purchases.
A big upside to this approach is that, unlike debt, common shares do not create any financial obligations for the company. That's not the case, though, with preferred shares---and Strategy has issued plenty of these as well, which obliges it to pay regular dividends to shareholders. These obligations include payments of roughly $200 million that are due by Dec. 31, the bulk of which are owed in the form of dividends (Strategy, like most companies, also carries some debt).
In order to project a sense of financial stability, Strategy took the unusual step in early December of creating a so-called dollar reserve of $1.4 billion that Saylor says will be enough to cover the next 21 months of dividend obligations.
Saylor announced the reserve fund at a Dec. 1 investor presentation where he added, with his usual bravado: "It's our intention to keep stacking Bitcoin." In the near future, though, that goal is likely to be aspirational and Strategy may instead find itself selling Bitcoin instead.
"We can sell Bitcoin and we would sell Bitcoin if we needed to fund our dividend payments below 1x mNAV," Strategy CEO Phong Le said on a podcast last Friday. It was a remarkable statement from a company that is premised on the value of Bitcoin always increasing. More remarkable was when Saylor, who frequently exhorts the popular hold-on-to-your-Bitcoin phrase "HODL," repeated on Monday that Strategy could sell some Bitcoin.
On Tuesday, Strategy CFO Andrew Kang qualified the statement by saying the company planned to sell Bitcoin as a last resort and only if mNAV stays below one for a "very extended period."
Whatever the specifics, Strategy's acknowledgment it could sell Bitcoin combined with the new dollar reserve fund has sparked a new wave of vitriol from Strategy critics. Those include Peter Schiff, an advocate for the gold industry and longtime crypto critic, who claims the company is coming undone, and that Saylor is the "biggest con man" on Wall Street.
Today is the beginning of the end of $MSTR. Saylor was forced to sell stock not to buy Bitcoin, but to buy U.S. dollars merely to fund MSTR's interest and dividend obligations. The stock is broken. The business model is a fraud, and @Saylor is the biggest con man on Wall Street.
**--- Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) **December 1, 2025
If Schiff's view---hardly a consensus one---is correct and Strategy has to liquidate, then the broader crypto market could be hit hard since the selloff would almost certainly trigger a downward price spiral for Bitcoin. Even if Strategy has to sell only a portion of its holdings, it could trigger a contagion in which hundreds of other so-called digital asset treasuries (DATs) do the same.
But even as skeptics label Strategy and the DAT model as a house of cards built on financial chicanery, others view them as early leaders in an emerging category of crypto banks.
'All the bad news is out there'
Whatever one thinks of Saylor, there is no denying he is a natural showman. In his Dec. 1 presentation announcing the new U.S. dollar reserve, he displayed a futuristic-looking spaceship in garish green and orange with a Bitcoin powered reactor at its core. "Think of [the dollar reserve] as a $USD battery. We're basically using a nuclear reactor to spin a generator to charge a battery," explained Saylor.
For Saylor's detractors, all of this smacks of the worst type of hucksterism. Others see a visionary who is using compelling metaphors and imagery to help the public understand a complex new financial mechanism.
The latter include Sebastian Bea, a former longtime BlackRock executive and Olympic rower, who is now president of a digital asset treasury called ReserveOne. According to Bea, Saylor is pursuing a sophisticated long-term strategy, and has surrounded himself with a team of corporate finance experts, including board member Peter Briger, who has had a distinguished career at Goldman Sachs and Fortress Investment Group.
In this context, Saylor's plans to purchase a growing supply of Bitcoin by tapping into capital markets for equity, commodities, and derivatives makes sense. As he and Strategy's CFO explained this week, that plan includes bringing in revenue by lending Bitcoin and selling covered call options.
For all of this to work, though, the value of Bitcoin will have to keep appreciating. This notion strikes crypto skeptics as absurd, but crypto advocates point out correctly that Bitcoin has grown faster than nearly any other asset over the past decade, and is poised for longer-term gains as large entities ranging from sovereign wealth funds to university endowments add it to their portfolios. In the latest bullish signal, Vanguard---which has refused to add crypto to its portfolio for years---elected to add Bitcoin and other crypto ETFs this week.
If Bitcoin does keep appreciating, Strategy will be able to keep obtaining credit against the surplus value in the same way a company can do with real estate in a desirable market. There will of course be downturns but, according to Bea, Strategy "has planned for this" and has a healthy overall asset to debt ratio.
Bea adds that the recent wave of digital asset treasury companies are akin to a new type of bank, and that their model is evolving rapidly. He points out that some, including ReserveOne, are based around cryptocurrencies like Ethereum that do provide yield unlike Bitcoin, which provides additional breathing room on the corporate finance front. Bea acknowledged that the impending move by MSCI to exclude DATs from indexes could be a significant headwind, and said that companies based around crypto holdings need time to evolve.
Cosmo Jiang, a partner at the crypto-focused venture capital firm Pantera, likewise believes that digital asset treasuries---including a Solana-focused company he is backing---will become a permanent feature of the financial landscape.
"We're seeing the genesis of a whole new category of business," Jiang told Fortune, adding that DATs are poised to earn significant revenue from the fast-growing world of decentralized finance.
In separate remarks to Bloomberg, Jiang made the case that the sector is currently at a low point, but that the current malaise around Strategy and similar firms is temporary. "We're at the point where all the bad news is out there, and the bears are the loudest voices in the room."
Jiang noted, however, that many in the recent wave of crypto-hoarding companies are unlikely to survive, and that the business model required not just a stash of tokens, but deep experience in capital markets and corporate finance.
"There will be two or three large winners" for each major cryptocurrency, he predicted. If this is the case, the coming months will likely determine whether one of those is Strategy.