Michael Saylor says he doesn’t want all the Bitcoin. “We want everybody else to have their piece,” he told CNBC, during an interview following Strategy’s earnings report yesterday.
The company now holds 628,791 Bitcoin, about 3% of the total supply that will ever exist. But Saylor, who serves as executive chairman, said that’s not the endgame. He said:
“We wouldn’t want to own all of it. I wouldn’t want to. We see Bitcoin as a digital capital. The business model is to accumulate the digital capital and issue digital credit like preferred stocks against that capital.”
Strategy expands its Bitcoin holdings through structured offerings
Saylor said the company initially aimed to raise $500 million in its latest preferred stock offering, but bumped that to $2.5 billion due to investor demand. “This is the largest IPO of the year,” he added.
The company has now done four IPOs this year, two at $500 million, one at $1 billion, and this latest at $2.5 billion. Strategy is taking that money and using it to buy more Bitcoin. “We’ll sell a credit instrument like Strike and we’ll buy Bitcoin,” Saylor said.
He explained how the company uses a multi-tiered structure to attract different investor types. The equity side, he said, functions like 2x Bitcoin, aimed at investors looking for amplified returns. Then there’s Strike, which gives 80% of the upside, a 20% structured dividend, and principal protection for those who prefer hedge funds or S&P-style products.
And now there’s Stretch, which he described as a type of “Treasury Bitcoin.” It’s designed for people who want low volatility, monthly yield, and principal protection — “like a high-yield savings account,” Saylor said. “It kind of competes with money markets or treasuries.”
He said the average price of the company’s Bitcoin holdings sits around $73,000. The idea is to take the volatility, strip it out, and sell back structured versions that traditional investors can digest. “We’re refining it into securities that conventional investors can buy depending on their risk tolerance and their duration interest,” he said.
Saylor says Bitcoin is replacing cash for corporate treasuries
When asked about whether companies like Apple or Microsoft should hold Bitcoin instead of treasuries, Saylor pointed to SEC rules that stop companies from buying each other’s stock. “The only security Apple can buy is Apple stock,” he said. “So in general, if you’re trying to create shareholder value, you don’t want to park it in a fiat currency. You want to park it in a…” and then he paused. “You want to park it in Bitcoin.”
He said Bitcoin is eating into foreign real estate, private equity, public equity, and other traditional stores of value, calling it a shift from 20th century physical assets to 21st century crypto. “If the Mag-7 could buy each other’s securities, they would be better off,” he said. “But they can’t.”
Saylor made it clear that even with nearly 630,000 Bitcoin, Strategy isn’t trying to corner the market. “I don’t think we’ll get all of it. I don’t think 3 to 7% is too much,” he said, adding that BlackRock owns similar stakes in multiple sectors. He also noted that Strategy started its Bitcoin journey when the price was $10,000, and now that Bitcoin is above $100,000, 97% of the supply is owned by others. “Somebody else, not us, has it,” he said.
The interview ended with a question about Wall Street legend Warren Buffett, who once called Bitcoin “rat poison.” Saylor was asked what would happen if Buffett and others dumped their treasury holdings and bought Bitcoin instead.
While Saylor didn’t answer directly, he stayed on message, which is that fiat is no longer where smart money goes. “You don’t want to park your entire financial future in fiat currency,” he said. “Or US Treasuries.”