Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin bet is facing heat amid the broader crypto trail. The company reported an operating loss of $17.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to its Feb. 5 earnings call.
Due to new reporting guidelines, the entire loss was mainly an unrealized loss on BTC holdings as the crypto run intensified in late 2025 after the October crash.
Part of the report read,
“Operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2025 includes an unrealized loss on the company’s digital assets of $17.4 billion. This is the fourth quarterly reporting period in which we have adopted fair value accounting.”
Adjusted for other income and expenses, the fourth quarter net loss was $12.4 billion.
Bitcoin betting weighs on strategy
The corporate BTC treasury pioneer collected 713,502 coins worth more than $54 billion, with an average price of $76,000 per BTC.
Although this is not the company’s bear market, the bet has registered huge paper losses BTC dropped on the charts to below $65,000. At the time of writing, Strategy’s stock was worth $46.2 billion, down nearly 15% after an $8 billion loss.
Source: SaylorTracker
The mNAV, or relative valuation measure, between crypto holdings and the company also fell further to 0.77x, underscoring broader bearish market sentiment.
That’s not all, as the common stock, MSTR, has not been spared from the market carnage either.
MSTR extends losses to 80%
On Thursday, MSTR recorded a 17% price drop following the earnings call and BTC’s sharp drop to $60,000.
This brought losses since the 2025 high of $453 to 76%. When zoomed in from the peak of $543 in November 2025, the total losses were 80%.
Source: MSTR vs BTC Price, TradingView
US pension funds have been hit hardest by the MSTR crisis. In fact, rReports indicate that 11 US pension funds may be expecting a paper loss of $330 million from holding the shares.
These funds bought approximately 1.8 million MSTR shares for a total of $577 million. However, they have now shrunk to $240 million as the share price fell lower. At the time of writing, MSTR was back to its 2024 price range, between $100 and $180. However, it remains to be seen whether the support will hold against bears.
Meanwhile, longtime BTC and Saylor critic Peter Schiff said: hit labeling the company as a ‘fraud’ and a ‘Ponzi scheme’. He questioned Strategy’s capital raising model for the BTC purchases.
Also in the past, Schiff has taken advantage of the BTC market routes to intensify to attack against the firm and Saylor.
Final thoughts
- Strategy reported a loss of $17.4 billion in the fourth quarter, mainly due to a decline in the price of BTC, which impacted unrealized PnL (profit and loss).
- With deepening market routes, MSTR losses expanded to 80% after falling to the $100 to $180 price range in 2024.