Strategy holds largest public Bitcoin treasury

Strategy, the company formerly known as MicroStrategy, now manages the largest public Bitcoin treasury, holding about 819,000 BTC as of May 2026. The firm raised cash through convertible senior notes, new stock issues and multiple preferred-equity offerings to fund its purchases.

The company began buying Bitcoin in 2020 with a $250 million purchase intended as a hedge against inflation. Over the following years, Strategy shifted its primary corporate focus from business intelligence software to building a Bitcoin reserve under co-founder and chairman Michael Saylor. The company removed “Micro” from its name in February 2025.

Strategy’s capital-raising approach includes repeat offerings of convertible notes and new share classes. In late 2024 the firm outlined plans to raise up to $42 billion for future purchases. In January 2025 it authorized a 30-fold increase in Class A common shares and shortly after priced a new stock, Strike (STRK), at $80 per share. The company completed a $2 billion convertible notes sale in February 2025 and launched several preferred products used to raise additional funds.

The firm’s market valuation has moved independently of its Bitcoin holdings. Strategy’s multiple to net asset value reached about 3.9 times in November 2024 and fell below 1 in early 2026. Strategy’s share price dropped roughly 70% between August 2025 and February 2026. The company recorded unrealized losses tied to Bitcoin price swings of $12.4 billion in Q4 2025 and $12.5 billion in Q1 2026.

Market participants raised concerns about the risks of raising debt and issuing convertible securities to buy Bitcoin, including the potential for falling share prices to force asset sales. To build a cash buffer, Strategy created a U.S. dollar reserve in December 2025, initially funded with $1.44 billion and later increased. The company reported the cash reserve covered more than 2.5 years of debt and dividend obligations as of February 2026. Michael Saylor has modeled scenarios in which the company could refinance or cover $6 billion of debt even if Bitcoin fell to $8,000 and argued in December 2024 that issuing debt to expand holdings follows practices used in other asset markets: ‘Every time Manhattan real estate goes up in value, they issue more debt to develop more real estate.’

The company changed its stance on selling Bitcoin in May 2026. During the Q1 2026 earnings call, CEO Phong Le stated, ‘We will sell Bitcoin when it’s advantageous to the company,’ explaining sales would be considered to improve Bitcoin-per-share or to manage debt and dividend obligations. Michael Saylor later described the policy as an intent to ‘never be a net seller.’ Strategy resumed buying Bitcoin days after the statements.

Other publicly traded firms that applied similar treasury strategies sold portions of their holdings in 2026. In March 2026 a Bitcoin miner sold about 15,000 BTC, roughly 28% of its reserves, raising about $1.1 billion to repurchase convertible debt. Another firm reported more than $250 million in Bitcoin sales in the first quarter of 2026 as part of a business reorientation.

Saylor has proposed broader plans for Strategy, including offering Bitcoin-linked capital market instruments and building services he described as similar to a ‘Bitcoin bank.’ He also presented the argument for corporate Bitcoin adoption to other public-company boards; one board declined the proposal in December 2024.

Strategy continues to raise capital through equity and debt products and to make Bitcoin purchases. As of May 2026 the firm’s Bitcoin holdings had an estimated market value of about $65.4 billion.