Michael Saylor Denies 47k BTC Sale Talk, Hints at “Pleasantly Surprising” New Buys
- Strategy’s 43,415 BTC transfers signal a custodian rotation and not any form of selling activity.
- Saylor confirms Strategy bought 487 BTC this week and maintains total holdings of 641,692 BTC.
- Strategy’s mNAV falling to 0.99 highlights renewed investor caution around leveraged BTC exposure.
Michael Saylor moved quickly on Friday to shut down fresh speculation that Strategy Inc., formerly MicroStrategy, had quietly sold tens of thousands of Bitcoin during this week’s sharp market decline. The rumors erupted after Arkham Intelligence flagged what appeared to be a large reduction in Strategy’s wallet balance, dropping from 484,000 BTC to 437,000 BTC, a figure that implied a sudden 47,000 BTC drawdown worth roughly $4.6 billion.
The alarm coincided with steep market volatility, as Bitcoin fell more than 1% in under 24 hours to trade below $96k for the first time in six months. Social-media chatter intensified when Arkham reported that Strategy had moved 43,415 BTC worth $4.26 billion since midnight UTC, distributing the coins across more than 100 addresses.
The scale and timing of the transfers led some observers to fear the beginning of a major liquidation by the world’s most influential corporate Bitcoin holder.
Arkham Data Shows Custodian Rotation, Not Selling
Arkham later clarified that the movements were consistent with a custodian shift rather than any sale activity. According to its analysis, Strategy has been transitioning Bitcoin from Coinbase Custody, its existing custodian, to a new service provider over the past two weeks.
The activity includes three categories of transactions: direct transfers from Coinbase to the new custodian, internal transfers within the new custodian’s wallet cluster, and routine Coinbase wallet refreshes as older wallets empty. Arkham emphasized that none of these movements indicates liquidation.
It further noted that Strategy routinely performs wallet rotations for security, operational, and counterparty-risk purposes, and that anyone monitoring the entity for the past fortnight would have seen similar patterns long before Friday’s spike in online speculation. Market panic nevertheless spread quickly as automated trading systems identified the transfers during already fragile conditions.
Saylor Reaffirms Accumulation, Confirms 487 BTC Added
Saylor directly refuted the sale rumors in a post on X, saying there was “no truth” to claims that Strategy had reduced its holdings. He reiterated the firm’s long-standing plan:
“We’re buying quite a lot, actually, and we’ll actually report our next buys on Monday morning. I think people will be pleasantly surprised. And that we’ve been accelerating our purchases.”
He also repeated his view that Bitcoin is a long-duration asset requiring a multi-year investment horizon.
Internal company dashboards appeared to reinforce his comments. Strategy’s corporate records still show 641,692 BTC under management, unchanged from prior disclosures. SEC filings revealed that between November 3 and November 9, Strategy purchased 487 BTC for $49.9 million at an average price of $102,557.
The acquisition was funded through proceeds from several preferred stock offerings, including the Series A Strife, Stretch, Strike, and Stride tranches, which generated roughly $50 million in net cash. No new common stock was issued during the period.
The latest purchase brings Strategy’s total Bitcoin acquisition cost to $47.54 billion at an average price of $74,079 per BTC. At current market prices, the portfolio is valued above $65 billion, keeping Strategy firmly positioned as the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder.
Related: Michael Saylor Declares Bitcoin ‘On Sale’ After Price Falls Below $100K
mNAV Slides Below 1 as Investors Reassess Leverage
The rumor-driven turbulence intensified scrutiny of Strategy’s financial metrics. New data from November 13 showed the company’s stock trading at $224.61 while Bitcoin traded at $101,636, pushing Strategy’s market-to-NAV multiple (mNAV) to 0.99, the first time the ratio has fallen below 1.
Source: X
The discount indicates investors temporarily valued the company at less than the market worth of its underlying Bitcoin per share, reversing years of sustained premium pricing. The shift follows a broader cooling of enthusiasm for corporate digital-asset treasuries. According to K33 Research, Strategy’s equity premium has contracted by $79.2 billion since late 2024.
Analysts estimate roughly $48 billion of implied Bitcoin demand did not convert into actual BTC purchases, even as the company raised more than $31 billion through share issuance during the same period.
Despite the pressure, some analysts say Strategy faces no structural requirement to sell BTC until at least 2027, barring an unusually weak 2028 cycle. For now, the market continues monitoring whether Strategy’s mNAV can break back above 1 should Bitcoin stabilize.
