Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) doubled down on Bitcoin through the market slump — and the latest SEC filing shows just how expensive that conviction has been.
A brief recap: the company’s Bitcoin accumulation began in 2020 under founder and then-CEO Michael Saylor and over the years turned Strategy into the public company with the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury. The company has spent tens of billions of dollars piling into BTC, but a sustained price decline pushed its holdings into the red.
The numbers: Strategy’s Form 8-K for Q1 2026 reveals a staggering hit — the company’s Bitcoin position fell by more than $14 billion during the quarter alone, reflecting the broader drop in BTC’s price. Despite those unrealized losses, Strategy continued buying aggressively. In Q1 it executed 12 separate purchases (the smallest tranche was $40 million), spending just over $7 billion and adding more than 89,000 BTC to its vault in three months. That pushed the company’s cumulative Bitcoin outlay to more than $57 billion.
Buying didn’t stop when the quarter closed. On April 6 Strategy disclosed another acquisition of 4,871 BTC at an average price of $67,718 — a $329.9 million purchase that brings the company’s total historical Bitcoin spend to approximately $58.02 billion.
Where things stand: Bitcoin has recovered somewhat from Q1 lows, but Strategy’s holdings remain underwater because its cost basis is about $75,644 per coin. As long as BTC trades below that level, the company’s crypto position will show unrealized losses. The effect has been mirrored in Strategy’s stock: MSTR is trading around $163 at the time of this report, off more than 50% from its 2025 peak above $400.
What management says: Michael Saylor has repeatedly stated that Strategy does not intend to sell its Bitcoin and plans to keep accumulating. The Q1 filing underlines the company’s high-conviction, long-duration bet on BTC — one that continues to expose Strategy to significant mark-to-market volatility while it pursues its accumulation strategy.
Bottom line: Strategy’s approach remains clear — keep buying through the dips — but the Q1 numbers are a reminder of how costly that strategy can be when markets move against a large, leveraged corporate treasury. Investors will be watching whether further rallies in BTC erase these unrealized losses or whether extended weakness forces a rethink.
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