Bitcoin Giant Saylor: Regulation Doesn't Need to Wait for Congress
Michael Saylor, founder of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), stated on September 15 after the CLARITY Act faced a Senate vote setback, "With the CLARITY Act stalled, I expect the SEC, CFTC, and Treasury to continue advancing digital asset regulatory rules based on existing laws, without waiting for Congress to complete legislation."
Saylor further predicted that under the current regulatory framework, banks will expand Bitcoin custody and Bitcoin-collateralized loan services, with more funds continuing to flow into Bitcoin and the broader digital credit market. He also cited the GENIUS Act, which will take effect in July 2025, as evidence that Washington can independently advance specific crypto policies on a narrower, more focused legislative track—even if broader market structure reforms are stalled in Congress, regulation in subfields like stablecoins can still make progress.
On August 7, Saylor had already laid the groundwork for this vote setback, stating, "Bitcoin does not need CLARITY; America needs clarity," implying that regulatory clarity is not a necessary prerequisite for Bitcoin's price and adoption. The CLARITY Act failed to secure the 60 votes needed to advance in the Senate on September 15, with 49 in favor and 50 against. Saylor's statement is seen as part of a collective shift among leading figures in the crypto industry towards the narrative of "administrative agencies setting rules on their own" after legislative setbacks.
As of mid-September, Saylor's Strategy company holds approximately 845,050 Bitcoins, with a total cost of about $63.73 billion, averaging a purchase cost of about $75,412 per Bitcoin—this holding size keeps Strategy among the largest publicly traded Bitcoin reserve companies globally.
In contrast to Saylor's public optimism, Strategy's financial structure is currently under significant pressure—its Class A shares have increased from 76 million in Q2 2020 to 314 million now, a 313% increase over two years, far exceeding the dilution rates of companies like Wayfair (30%) and Twilio (27%) during the same period. In 2025, Strategy became the largest common stock fundraiser in the U.S. market (raising $16.5 billion) and also the largest preferred stock issuer (raising $7 billion), with an average preferred dividend yield exceeding 10%, requiring annual dividend payments of about $888 million. The company's total debt stands at $8.2 billion, of which $6 billion must be refinanced before 2028. The company does not generate enough operating cash flow to cover dividend payments, relying mainly on reserve funds to maintain dividends.
From a financial and market logic perspective, Saylor's statement continues his consistent "confidence rhetoric" strategy, essentially supporting market sentiment for his company's stock price and Bitcoin holdings: the setback of the CLARITY Act combined with a significant drop in Strategy's stock price (down about 30% over the past two years, with a peak drop of 72%, exceeding Bitcoin's 51% drop during the same period) has led the market to question its "issuing shares to buy Bitcoin" value-creation model. Saylor's emphasis that "regulation doesn't need to wait for Congress" and "funds will continue to flow into Bitcoin" objectively helps hedge against the negative impact of regulatory uncertainty on its stock price and financing ability. The beneficiaries are Strategy itself, which needs to maintain market confidence to continue issuing stocks and preferred shares to finance its Bitcoin holdings, and institutional investors betting on eventual regulatory easing; the pressured party is Strategy's balance sheet, which needs to seek refinancing for its $8.2 billion debt and lacks operating cash flow to cover nearly $900 million in annual preferred dividends. Its ability to continue financing under favorable conditions directly depends on whether Bitcoin prices and investor sentiment can be sustained.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Saylor's public statements have always carried a strong self-fulfilling expectation—since transforming the company from a traditional software firm, MicroStrategy, into a "Bitcoin reserve company" in 2020, he has repeatedly made optimistic predictions during periods of price pressure or regulatory setbacks. In 2025, the company officially changed its name to "Strategy," completely removing the brand label of its original software business, further reinforcing its market positioning as a "pure Bitcoin proxy." This model of "using rhetoric to hedge financial pressure" is consistent with his previous practice of publicly promoting Bitcoin while continuing to borrow to increase holdings during price downturns.
The funding chain of Strategy essentially operates as a "issue shares (or preferred shares) - buy Bitcoin - stock price rises - issue more shares" cycle, but this cycle has clearly lost momentum in the past two years—raising $16.5 billion in common stock and $7 billion in preferred stock in 2025, with Class A shares increasing by 313% over two years, while the stock price has dropped by 72%, far exceeding Bitcoin's own drop of 51%. This means that Saylor's prediction that "funds will continue to flow into Bitcoin" is becoming increasingly reliant on equity and preferred share dilution rather than operating cash flow—each time new shares are issued to increase Bitcoin holdings, it objectively dilutes the equity of existing shareholders, creating a structural contrast to the "value-creation flywheel" narrative he describes.
This resembles historical cases of high-leverage bets on single assets where closed-end fund premiums collapse—when the price correlation between the underlying asset (Bitcoin) and the financing tool (Strategy stock) weakens, and the latter's decline significantly exceeds the former's, it often indicates that the market begins to charge additional liquidity and credit risk discounts for such "shadow ETFs," rather than continuing to grant premiums. The current Bitcoin reserve company sector is transitioning from a "one-sided favoring period" to a "differentiated pricing period"—the market is beginning to distinguish between merely holding Bitcoin and whether a reserve company has sustainable cash flow and a reasonable leverage structure. The $8.2 billion debt of Strategy, of which $6 billion needs to be refinanced before 2028, is precisely the key test point for this differentiation in pricing.
This essentially reflects a structural divergence between narrative capital and the real balance sheet—Saylor needs to continuously project an optimistic narrative of "regulation will eventually ease, and funds will flow into Bitcoin" to maintain market confidence in his company's stock and preferred shares, thereby supporting his ability to continue financing at reasonable costs and repay upcoming debts. Once the persuasiveness of this narrative weakens, the market will refocus on the nearly $900 million annual preferred dividend burden and the lack of operating cash flow in the financial structure, which could further increase Strategy's financing costs, forming a negative feedback loop of "narrative failure - financing pressure - forced sale of Bitcoin to repay debt." Mechanically, as long as Saylor's personal market appeal can maintain the issuance premium of stocks and preferred shares, this flywheel can continue to operate; however, this also means that Strategy's debt repayment ability is highly dependent on whether one person's continued public statements remain persuasive in the market.