Famed Short Seller Warns Strategy’s $51M Bitcoin Buy Signals Weak Demand for Latest Offering

In brief

James Chanos warns that Strategy’s $51 million Bitcoin buy signals weak demand for its preferred stock offerings and criticizes the company for loosening shareholder protections.
Strategy modified its equity issuance policy by adding “when otherwise deemed advantageous”, with Chanos alleging it gives CEO Michael Saylor more flexibility to dilute shares at lower valuations.
The purchase brings Strategy’s total to 629,376 BTC worth $72 billion, while the stock trades down 1.46% at $360.98 amid broader Bitcoin market weakness.

Famed short-seller James Chanos, who’s best known for shorting Enron before its implosion in 2007, is calling out Strategy for its modest $51 million Bitcoin purchase and loosening a key safeguard against shareholder dilution.

Chanos said the company’s latest Bitcoin purchase points to weak demand for its preferred stock offerings, and accused chairman Michael Saylor of lowering a key shareholder safeguard, in a tweet on Monday.

In its Q2 2025 earnings report, Strategy said it would only issue stock below 2.5x mNAV to service debt interest or fund dividends on preferred shares, not to buy more BTC.

mNAV, or “market-to-net asset value,” is calculated by dividing Strategy’s market cap by the sum of its Bitcoin holdings and operating assets. A reading of 2.5 signals that the stock trades at a 150% premium to its underlying assets.

But the recent investor slide added the phrase “when otherwise deemed advantageous,” language that critics like Chanos interpret as giving the company more leeway to issue equity even at lower multiples.

Saylor announced the purchase of 430 BTC worth $51.4 million on Monday, revealing the firm paid roughly $119,666 per BTC in the transaction.

With the latest buy, the Virginia-based company, formerly known as MicroStrategy, has pushed its total Bitcoin holdings to a massive 629,376 BTC worth approximately $72 billion at the time of writing.

Strategy’s Bitcoin accumulation strategy has made it the world’s largest corporate holder of BTC, owning more than 3% of Bitcoin’s current circulating supply.

Japan’s Metaplanet also joined the buying spree Monday, adding 775 BTC for $93 million to bring its holdings to 18,888 BTC.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $115,192, down 2.8% in 24 hours, with more than $120 million in long positions liquidated, according to CoinGlass.

Earlier this month, Saylor indicated the company could eventually hold between 3-7% of Bitcoin’s total 21 million supply—though he added wanting “everyone else to have their piece.”

Last month alone, Strategy completed a $2.5 billion capital raise through newly created STRC preferred stock, using proceeds to acquire 21,021 BTC at an average price of $117,256.

“Crypto treasuries are accelerating the convergence between traditional finance and crypto,” Seth Ginns, Managing Partner at CoinFund, told Decrypt.

The recent wave of Bitcoin treasury activity showed “clear demand for equity access to crypto tokens,” Ginns added, with “tokens with strong fundamental backdrops” being prime candidates for treasury companies.

At $360.98, Strategy’s stock is down 1.46% on the day, after hitting a session low of $359.44. The shares have retreated from a previous close of $366.32 and now sit near the bottom of their daily range, according to Google Finance.