The world’s most famous corporate Bitcoin bull is facing one of his toughest market tests yet—and he’s still buying.
On February 17, 2025, Michael Saylor pushed his company, Strategy, even deeper into cryptocurrency markets, purchasing an additional 2,486 BTC for $168.4 million at an average price of $67,710 per coin.
That latest acquisition lifted the firm’s total holdings to a staggering 717,131 BTC, now valued at roughly $54.5 billion, cementing its position as the largest institutional holder of Bitcoin anywhere in the world.
But the timing has proven brutal.
A Giant Position Slips Into the Red
Bitcoin has struggled to regain momentum, trading mostly between $67,000 and $69,000 in recent weeks and falling nearly 23% since the start of 2026.
Because Strategy’s average purchase price sits at $76,027 per BTC, the company is now carrying unrealized losses approaching $7 billion—a dramatic reversal for a balance-sheet strategy once hailed as visionary.
What began in August 2020 as an unconventional treasury move has evolved into one of the most concentrated corporate wagers in financial history.
And despite the downturn, Saylor’s message has remained unchanged:
“Spring is coming.”
The Question Investors Are Asking: Could Forced Selling Happen?
As Strategy’s stock performance weakens, the company has continued raising capital by issuing shares—often using the proceeds to buy even more Bitcoin.
That has sparked concern among analysts about a potential negative feedback loop:
If investor confidence drops, the share price could slide further.
A sustained equity decline might pressure the firm’s ability to finance purchases.
In a worst-case scenario, markets fear forced liquidation of Bitcoin holdings to stabilize finances.
Not everyone believes that outcome is likely. Some observers argue that investors seeking direct exposure may increasingly choose to hold Bitcoin itself rather than equity tied to it, especially if the stock continues to decouple from the underlying asset.
For now, the key technical line many traders are watching sits near $58,800—a level that, if broken, could intensify scrutiny of the company’s strategy.
Conviction vs. Volatility: The HODL Philosophy at Scale
Long-term crypto advocates see the situation differently. To them, Strategy is simply applying the traditional “HODL” mentality—but at corporate scale.
In that view, price drawdowns are temporary noise in a multi-decade adoption curve, not a signal to retreat.
Saylor’s playbook has remained consistent through multiple cycles: accumulate aggressively during weakness and wait for macro liquidity conditions to turn favorable again.
Japan’s Metaplanet Is Following a Similar Script—Despite Heavy Losses
Halfway across the globe, Metaplanet has emerged as a kind of “Asia’s Strategy,” embracing the same high-conviction accumulation model.
The company reported a ¥102.2 billion ($665.8 million) net loss for the fiscal year, largely driven by accounting write-downs tied to falling Bitcoin prices.
Yet instead of reducing exposure, Metaplanet expanded its holdings to 35,102 BTC, making it the fourth-largest public corporate Bitcoin holder worldwide.
CEO Simon Gerovich has reaffirmed an ambitious long-term target: acquiring 1% of Bitcoin’s total supply, equivalent to 210,000 BTC.
Losses on Paper, Growth in Practice
Interestingly, while crypto volatility battered Metaplanet’s balance sheet, its operating business told a different story:
Revenue surged 738% year-over-year to ¥8.91 billion ($58 million).
The company forecasts +80% revenue growth and +81% operating profit growth in FY2026.
Executives attribute much of that expansion to a new initiative launched in late 2024 called the Bitcoin Income business, designed to turn treasury holdings into an active revenue engine rather than a passive store of value.
A High-Stakes Experiment in Corporate Finance
Together, the two companies represent a bold experiment: treating Bitcoin not as a speculative side asset, but as the core of corporate treasury strategy.
The bet hinges on a simple assumption—that over time, monetary expansion and institutional adoption will drive Bitcoin significantly higher, rewarding those willing to endure extreme volatility.
For now, that conviction is being tested by a stubborn market downturn.
Whether this period is remembered as a painful miscalculation or a historic buying opportunity may depend on what happens next in the global liquidity cycle—and whether Saylor’s long-promised “spring” eventually arrives.