Michael Saylor’s Strategy halts weekly Bitcoin buys ahead of Q1

Strategy paused its regular weekly bitcoin purchases this week ahead of its first-quarter earnings report. Michael Saylor posted on X, “No buys this week. Back to work next week.” The company holds 818,334 BTC, about 3.9% of bitcoin's 21 million supply.

The pause is temporary, and Strategy said purchases will resume next week. The company is scheduled to release first-quarter results on Tuesday. Last week Strategy added 3,273 BTC at an average price of $77,906 per coin. Bitcoin traded near $80,101 late Sunday, roughly 20% higher than a month earlier. This is the firm's second interruption of weekly buys this year, after a pause the week of March 23–29.

Strategy funds its Bitcoin accumulation with at-the-market sales of its Class A common stock, MSTR, and by issuing perpetual preferred shares. One of those perpetual preferreds, STRC, is structured to trade near $100 and pays a variable monthly dividend that currently annualizes around 11.5%.

The structure of STRC has drawn debate among analysts and investors. Vetle Lunde, head of research at K33, wrote in a March report that the link between Strategy's bitcoin purchases and STRC could introduce structural risks tied to market sentiment and pricing. He noted STRC holders receive capped upside through dividends but face potential downside during market drawdowns, and that extended trading below target levels could push the instrument toward a credit-like risk profile. Some critics have labeled STRC a “Ponzi scheme” and warned it could enter a death spiral under adverse conditions. Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer pushed back on that criticism, describing STRC as part of a “deliberate and durable” model that “converts demand for yield into long-term bitcoin exposure.”

Wall Street analysts forecast a larger quarterly loss for Strategy than a year earlier. Estimates put the first-quarter loss at about $18.98 per share, compared with a $16.38 per-share loss in the first quarter of 2025.