Strategy CEO: Why nations will drive Bitcoin shopping spree in 2026

Strategy’s chief executive Phong Le predicts 2026 will unleash a wave of Bitcoin buying.

The boss of the digital asset treasury firm made that prediction on the back of Strategy buying another $980 million in Bitcoin in the second week of December at an average price of $92,000 per coin.

Bitcoin is “unique in that it’s a generational technology invention — it’s a macroeconomic innovation, and it’s a capital markets breakthrough,” Le told on Fox Business.

“That makes it a singular asset class,” Le said. “If I look at 2026, I’m pretty excited. I think we’re going to see more risk-on buying as we enter the mid-term election period. I think bank adoption, nation state adoption, is going to increase.”

Strategy under pressure

The bullish prognosis comes as Strategy is under pressure. Having pioneered the DAT gambit in 2020 by buying its first batch of Bitcoin, Strategy has seen its stock —MSTR — fall some 63% since July, trading at $162 per share.

The upshot? Strategy’s stock is now worth less than the Bitcoin it holds. Other DATs face the same problem.

The tumble has coincided with the fall of Bitcoin. The top cryptocurrency’s price has been rangebound between $85,000 and $95,000 for much of December, down roughly 30% from its October peak.

According to Monday’s 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Strategy now holds 671,268 Bitcoin, purchased at an average price of $74,972.

“People wonder when Bitcoin goes down 5% why does MSTR go down 8-9%?” Le said. “We’re designed to outperform Bitcoin in the long term. We’re leveraged Bitcoin.”

‘Would’ve been better off’

While Le remained optimistic publicly, the company and its chair, Michael Saylor, are criticised by the likes of gold bug Peter Schiff, a prominent Bitcoin doubter.

“With an average cost of almost $75,000, his entire position has an unrealised gain of less than 15%,” Schiff blasted Saylor on X. “MSTR would’ve been better off had Saylor purchased any other asset class.”

On Friday, Nasdaq alleviated some analysts’ concerns that Strategy might be delisted from the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index for underperformance.

Earlier in December, Strategy announced a $1.4 billion cash cushion to shield itself from dramatic market swings. The reserve was funded by new stock sales and is designed to cover at least 21 months of dividend and interest payments to investors.

The aim is to shield Strategy from the risk of being forced to liquidate Bitcoin at depressed prices as crypto markets continue to stagger after a $1.4 trillion wipeout.

“Folks need to remember. If Bitcoin goes up 1.4% per year, we’ll be able to pay our dividends into eternity,” Le said.

$582m wipeout

On Tuesday, Bitcoin’s price sank just below $86,000 with $582 million in leveraged long positions liquidated within hours, Coinglass data shows. That means traders betting on an uptick were wiped out.

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw $358m in selloffs on Monday, by far the worst day in December, according to DefiLlama data.

“Very few buyers and a host of nervous sellers,” Michael Terpin, CEO of Transform Ventures and author of Bitcoin Supercycle, told DL News.