Michael Saylor makes a bold claim: the total reserve capital of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) now surpasses that of all financial companies in the S&P 500 index. The only exception is Warren Buffett's empire, Berkshire Hathaway. However, as I found out in my own analysis, this figure requires significant caveats.
At the heart of the ambitious claim lies the company's own calculation methodology. In Strategy's official presentation for investors, a more modest figure of $15 billion appears, which raises questions about the accuracy of the public comparisons.
The path to record reserves
On Strategy's balance sheet sits a colossal 845,050 BTC. The company made its first purchase back in August 2020, spending $250 million on 21,454 bitcoins. Today, those coins are valued at approximately $65.2 billion. Purchases resumed on August 31 after a ten-week pause: the company added 4,603 BTC worth $370 million.
Including $6.7 billion in dollar-denominated assets, total reserves reach $72.3 billion. Notably, CEO Phong Le cited a nearly identical figure on the same day—around $72 billion—which confirms the reliability of the data.
Le also emphasized the absence of net leverage. Dollar assets of $6.714 billion are almost entirely offset by debt of a comparable size, making the capital structure more resilient than it might appear at first glance.
A flawed methodology
The key nuance: the Total Reserve Capital metric ignores senior claims—obligations that must be settled first. For banks, these are deposits. That is why JPMorgan's figure goes deep into negative territory—at approximately -$1.35 trillion.
On the chart, Strategy stands at $66 billion. The presentation from August 30 shows $21.5 billion in senior claims, of which $14.8 billion are preferred shares, with net reserves at $50.7 billion. The $66 billion figure only appears when preferred shares are excluded from the calculation, while bank deposits remain in the formula.
This approach artificially inflates the ratio of reserves to senior obligations. On the chart, it stands at 10.75, but when preferred shares are included, it drops to 3.4. Strategy itself calls this metric "a measure with significant caveats" in its presentation, which only confirms its ambiguity.
For comparison: Berkshire's report shows $365.5 billion in cash and Treasury bonds as of June 30—a figure that is easy to verify. But the company's position in the ranking is not.
My verdict: Saylor's statement is a brilliant PR move, but comparing Strategy to banks using a non-standard metric is, at the very least, misleading. Investors should focus on traditional indicators, such as the debt-to-assets ratio, rather than marketing constructs designed to grab attention.