Michael Saylor continues to rewrite the rules of the game. His company Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, now holds more reserve capital than any other financial corporation in the S&P 500 index. The only exception is Warren Buffett's legendary Berkshire Hathaway.
However, it should be noted right away: this conclusion is based on a methodology that Strategy itself developed and presented to investors. In the official presentation for shareholders, the company cites a more modest figure—around $15 billion.
How Strategy reached this level
Strategy currently holds 845,050 BTC on its balance sheet. The company made its first batch of bitcoin purchases back in August 2020, investing $250 million and receiving 21,454 coins. Today, these assets are valued at approximately $65.2 billion. Purchases resumed on August 31 after a ten-week pause—the company then added 4,603 BTC worth $370 million.
Including $6.7 billion in dollar-denominated assets, the total reserve pool reached $72.3 billion. Notably, on the same day, CEO Phong Le cited an almost identical figure—around $72 billion—which confirms the accuracy of the calculations.
Le also emphasized that the company has no net leverage. This is also evident from the financial statements: dollar assets of $6.714 billion almost exactly match debt obligations of the same size.
A metric invented by Strategy itself
The Total Reserve Capital metric does not account for senior claims—that is, obligations that are repaid first. For banks, these include deposits. Therefore, for JPMorgan, this metric goes negative at approximately -$1.35 trillion.
On Strategy's chart, this metric 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 of $50.7 billion. The figure of $66 billion is only obtained when preferred shares are excluded from the calculations. Bank deposits, meanwhile, remain in the formula.
This approach clearly inflates the ratio of reserves to senior obligations. On the chart, it is 10.75, but if preferred shares are added, the metric drops to 3.4. Strategy itself calls this calculation a "metric with significant caveats" in the presentation.
For comparison: Berkshire's report shows $365.5 billion in cash and Treasury bonds as of June 30. This figure can be verified. However, the company's position in the ranking cannot, which raises questions about the objectivity of the comparison.
At the time of analysis, bitcoin is trading around $77,200, down 0.1% on the day. MSTR shares fell 2.1% to $122.3 on Wednesday, with the decline in the stock outpacing the cryptocurrency's movement—a typical picture for a weak market. Investors, however, responded positively to the growth of reserves in late August, pushing MSTR's price to nearly $140, after which a slight correction followed.
My view: Strategy's approach turns the company into a proxy instrument for betting on bitcoin, but the reserve calculation methodology is clearly tailored to create a striking news hook. Investors should focus on real numbers rather than marketing metrics that can be misleading about true financial stability.