Bitcoin’s recent slide has dominated headlines, but inside one of the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holders, the discussion is centered on something else entirely: momentum beneath the surface.
For Phong Le, the disconnect between price action and structural progress has rarely been wider. While Bitcoin has pulled back sharply from its autumn highs and sentiment indicators have sunk into pessimistic territory, Le argues the underlying setup for the asset has quietly strengthened throughout 2025.
Key Takeaways
Strategy CEO Phong Le says Bitcoin’s fundamentals strengthened in 2025 despite a price pullback.
Short-term volatility and weak sentiment do not change the long-term thesis.
Strategy continues to focus on quantitative metrics rather than market emotion.
Growing government and banking support is seen as a major long-term tailwind.
Volatility fades, structure remains
Bitcoin’s climb to new record levels earlier this year was followed by a swift correction, erasing nearly a third of its value. That move coincided with a sharp deterioration in investor mood, with fear dominating market psychology into December.
Le views that sequence as familiar rather than alarming. Price fluctuations, he says, tend to obscure what matters most during periods of transition. For investors with a multi-year horizon, daily movements are less informative than changes in adoption, infrastructure, and policy alignment.
Why Strategy ignores short-term noise
At Strategy, volatility is treated as a variable to be measured, not feared. Le points to the firm’s reliance on quantitative indicators rather than market emotion, including how it evaluates the relationship between its equity valuation and its Bitcoin holdings.
That gap has recently widened, with Strategy’s market value trading below the estimated value of its Bitcoin reserves. The company holds more than 670,000 BTC, placing it among the largest known corporate holders globally. Le does not see the discount as a signal of weakness, but as a reflection of broader market caution spilling into equity pricing.
A shift in government posture
What stands out most to Le is how dramatically the policy environment has evolved. He describes the current stance of US authorities toward Bitcoin as more constructive than at any previous point in the asset’s history.
Instead of resistance or uncertainty, Bitcoin is increasingly being treated as a strategic consideration within financial and regulatory circles. That shift, he argues, has long-term implications that are not captured by short-term price charts.
Traditional finance changes its tone
Le says the change is equally visible inside the banking system. Conversations that once revolved around whether Bitcoin posed a risk have shifted toward how institutions can integrate it.
Alongside Strategy’s executive chairman Michael Saylor, Le has been meeting with banks across the US and the Middle East. He describes those discussions as pragmatic rather than philosophical, with institutions focused on implementation, custody, and balance-sheet exposure.
In his view, traditional finance is no longer watching Bitcoin from the sidelines – it is trying to catch up.
Looking ahead to 2026
Le believes the convergence of regulatory clarity, institutional engagement, and corporate adoption sets the stage for the next phase of Bitcoin’s evolution. While he avoids short-term forecasts, he sees the current environment as unusually supportive heading into the next year.
For him, the takeaway is not about timing the next rally, but about recognizing when an asset is strengthening beneath the surface. Price may fluctuate, sentiment may swing, but Le argues that the foundations supporting Bitcoin are becoming harder to ignore.
In that sense, the recent downturn may say less about Bitcoin’s direction – and more about how slowly markets adjust to structural change.
