$73B Bet and the $1M Price Tag

Saylor’s Bitcoin strategy

Michael Saylor’s goal is to redefine corporate treasuries.

Since August 2020, Michael Saylor’s company (once known as MicroStrategy and now rebranded as Strategy) has become one of the largest public holders of Bitcoin (BTC).

By September 2025, Strategy had accumulated 640,031 BTC, valued at more than $73 billion. The average purchase price sits in the tens of thousands, leaving the firm with a sizable unrealized gain at today’s levels.

For Saylor, Bitcoin is both a hedge against inflation and a reserve asset that cannot be debased — a way to position the company ahead of institutional flows he believes are still to come.

His thesis is captivating: If Wall Street allocates even 10% of its assets to Bitcoin, the price could climb toward $1 million.

Did you know? MicroStrategy’s first Bitcoin purchase as a corporate treasury asset was in August 2020, when it spent $250 million on BTC.

Bitcoin as the optimal treasury asset

Saylor’s playbook is straightforward but relentless: accumulate Bitcoin, hold it indefinitely and embed it right into the company’s very structure.

Since 2020, Strategy has turned excess cash, debt financing and equity raises into a steady pipeline of BTC purchases.

Today, the company holds 640,031 BTC (approximately 3% of Bitcoin’s total supply) at an average cost of around $73,983 per coin. To build that position, Strategy has tapped a mix of financing tools: zero- or low-coupon convertible notes, preferred shares, at-the-market stock offerings and other instruments designed to raise capital while limiting shareholder dilution.

Volatility isn’t treated as a risk to be avoided but as an opportunity — buying dips, holding through turbulence and letting Bitcoin’s scarcity work over time.

The conviction behind this accumulation comes from how Saylor views Bitcoin itself. Unlike cash, which he calls a “melting ice cube” because inflation steadily erodes its value, Bitcoin has a fixed cap of 21 million coins, enforced by code and halving events that make its issuance increasingly scarce.

Unlike gold — which is expensive to store, transport and authenticate — Bitcoin is digital, borderless and secured by a decentralized network, making it far more resistant to political interference.

He also sees Bitcoin as a diversification tool. Its correlation with equities and bonds has weakened, giving it hedge-like qualities in environments where inflation runs hot or central banks pursue aggressive monetary easing.

For Saylor, these traits make Bitcoin the optimal treasury asset: scarce, portable, resilient and built for 2025 and beyond.

Did you know? By mid-2025, nearly 95% of all 21 million Bitcoin had already been mined. There are just over 1 million left until the supply cap is reached.

The road to $1 million: Saylor’s Bitcoin Las Vegas projection, explained

Saylor’s boldest claim is that Bitcoin could eventually reach $1 million per coin.

The math begins with institutional capital: Pension funds, insurers, mutual funds and asset managers together control more than $100 trillion. If even 10% of that pool (roughly $10 trillion-$12 trillion) shifted into Bitcoin, the price impact would be extraordinary.

Spread across the fixed supply of 21 million coins, that demand alone would imply a valuation near $475,000 per BTC.

But Saylor argues the effective supply is far smaller. Between 2.3 million and 3.7 million BTC are believed to be permanently lost (some estimates suggest an even higher number). Meanwhile, “ancient” supply (coins unmoved for seven years or more) plus corporate treasuries make up somewhere around another 24% of the total supply.

On top of that, over 72% of circulating Bitcoin is now considered illiquid, held by long-term holders and entities with little history of selling. Together, these dynamics leave only a fraction of Bitcoin truly available on the open market.

When you recalculate based on a liquid supply of 16 million-18 million BTC, the same $10 trillion-$12 trillion allocation lifts the implied price range toward $555,000-$750,000.

Add in the growth of institutional assets over time, or allocations creeping beyond 10%, and the million-dollar threshold comes into view.

However, Saylor points out that the process also won’t happen overnight. Regulatory approvals, risk committees and liquidity constraints mean institutional allocation would unfold slowly.

Did you know? One of the largest single cases of lost Bitcoin involved 8,000 BTC accidentally thrown into a landfill in Newport, Wales (a hard drive with the private key was disposed of).

How Strategy finances its Bitcoin purchases

Over the past several years, Strategy has leaned heavily on convertible debt, preferred stock and innovative equity offerings to fund each new tranche of BTC.

Convertible senior notes

A central pillar is issuing convertible senior notes, which can be swapped into equity under certain conditions. These deals often carry very low or even zero interest (zero-coupon), keeping cash costs minimal.

In mid-2024, for example, Strategy raised $800 million through a convertible note offering (about $786 million net), at a 35% conversion premium. The funds bought 11,931 BTC at an average of $65,883. Another deal worth roughly $600 million followed soon after.

These structures lock in capital today while deferring potential dilution until conversion, giving the firm flexibility.

Preferred stock and “stretch” offerings

In addition to debt, Strategy has tapped investors through preferred stock issuances.

These (preferred issuances) tend to carry higher yields and fewer structural covenants than straight debt. For example, Strategy recently launched “Stretch” (STRC) preferred stock with a variable dividend starting at around 9% per annum, and the proceeds are explicitly marketed for funding Bitcoin purchases.

In July 2025, Strategy expanded a planned $500-million Stretch issuance to $2 billion, underscoring investor demand. Some insiders also bought into an offering that paid 11.75%, showing a strong appetite for yield-backed exposure.

Recent purchases

The latest public acquisition came in September 2025, when Strategy bought 196 BTC at an average price of $113,048 — a total of about $22 million.

As with recent buys, the purchase was funded through common stock sales and preferred stock issuance rather than operational cash flow or selling existing BTC.

Risks, criticisms and what to watch next

Strategy’s rise as the largest corporate Bitcoin holder comes with trade-offs.

The company now operates much like a leveraged Bitcoin fund, with its stock price closely tracking Bitcoin’s moves. And because it pays for new BTC buys through equity, convertibles and preferred stock, existing shareholders face the risk of dilution.

Besides these risks, analysts cite:

• Regulatory risk: Changes in tax or accounting rules could weaken the case for holding BTC.

• Opportunity cost: Billions are locked into one volatile asset.

• Institutional demand uncertainty: The $1-million thesis relies on Wall Street actually allocating 10%.

Still, the broader impact is hard to dismiss. Strategy has helped normalize Bitcoin on corporate balance sheets and accelerated growth in custody services, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and institutional over-the-counter markets.

What to watch next:

• Strategy’s future capital raises and funding structures

• Regulatory clarity on Bitcoin accounting and taxation

• Signs of large asset managers shifting real assets under management into Bitcoin.

If these trends play out, Saylor’s bet could reshape both corporate treasury strategy and Bitcoin’s role in global finance.