Strategy ($MSTR) announced Monday that it has created a $1.44 billion U.S. dollar reserve to safeguard future dividend and interest payments, a move aimed at calming investor concerns that the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder might eventually need to sell a portion of its roughly $56 billion BTC stack if market weakness persists.
The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm said the reserve, funded by recent Class A common stock sales, will initially cover at least 21 months of dividend obligations.
Over time, Strategy intends to expand the buffer to cover as much as 24 months of payments, strengthening its liquidity position as Bitcoin endures its steepest monthly decline since mid-2021.
Founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor said the cash reserve represents the next phase of the company’s evolution, complementing its Bitcoin holdings and reinforcing its strategy of becoming the world’s leading issuer of “Digital Credit.”
CEO Phong Le, whose comments last week sparked fears of a potential BTC sale, said the newly formed reserve sharply reduces the likelihood the company would need to liquidate any of its 650,000 BTC holdings.
Strategy’s market value to Bitcoin (mNAV) ratio — a key metric comparing enterprise value to Bitcoin holdings — had slipped to roughly 1.2 on Monday, inching closer to a level that historically raises concern among investors.
On Friday, Le told a podcast audience that Strategy could sell Bitcoin only if mNAV dropped below 1.0, and only as a last resort.
Investors reacted sharply early Monday to a bitcoin price sell-off, sending Strategy shares down more than 6% pre-market while Bitcoin fell roughly 6%. The stock pared losses after the reserve announcement.
At the time of writing, shares of MSTR are trading at 165.84, down 6.40%.
Strategy’s Bitcoin accumulation
Formerly known as MicroStrategy, the company has evolved from a business-intelligence software firm into a full-scale digital-asset-treasury vehicle, financing its Bitcoin accumulation through repeated equity raises and low-cost perpetual preferred offerings.
Its software division does not generate sufficient free cash flow to cover dividend or interest payments, while Bitcoin itself yields no income.
After a pause in purchases, Strategy added 130 BTC for $11.7 million last week, funded through new common share issuance.
Strategy’s updated forecast
Alongside the reserve announcement, Strategy updated its 2025 guidance, acknowledging that its October forecast — based on a $150,000 year-end Bitcoin price — is no longer realistic.
With Bitcoin recently trading between $80,660 and $111,612, Strategy now assumes a year-end price range of $85,000 to $110,000.
Under that scenario, the company expects operating income ranging from a $7 billion loss to a $9.5 billion profit—a wide spread driven by new accounting standards requiring fair-value BTC mark-to-market treatment each quarter.
Net income is projected between a $5.5 billion loss and a $6.3 billion profit, while diluted EPS could fall anywhere from –$17 to +$19 per share.
Despite market turbulence, Wall Street brokers such as Benchmark say the firm remains structurally sound, with Bitcoin unlikely to fall anywhere near the roughly $12,700 distress threshold analysts estimate would pose genuine solvency risk.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin price fell sharply to the mid-$84,000s early Monday, sliding 8% over the past 24 hours as a wave of macro anxiety, thin liquidity and fresh crypto-native stress hit markets simultaneously.
The world’s largest digital asset traded between a 24-hour high of $91,866 and a low of $84,722, extending a two-month drawdown that has now erased more than 30% from October’s record highs, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data.
The downturn marks a swift reversal from last week’s tentative recovery. After plunging below $81,000 on Nov. 21, the Bitcoin price steadily climbed into the end of November and briefly pushed above $92,500 during Black Friday’s morning session.
At the time of writing, the bitcoin price is $86,469.