Dogecoin Founder Slams Strategy’s Latest Bitcoin Buy: Strategic Genius or Costly Mistake?

On February 9, 2026, Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus publicly criticized Strategy’s latest purchase of 1,142 Bitcoin for $90 million, sarcastically questioning the timing as the company faces over $5 billion in unrealized losses.

This high-profile critique highlights a deepening divide in the crypto community regarding corporate investment strategies amidst volatility. The event is significant as it puts a spotlight on the extreme, conviction-driven model of corporate Bitcoin treasury accumulation championed by Strategy, testing its resilience against traditional risk management principles. For the market, it underscores a pivotal moment where the narrative of “always accumulating” meets the practical realities of bear market pressures and sophisticated, structured crypto portfolio management.

The Public Critique: A Clash of Crypto Philosophies

The crypto world witnessed a striking clash of perspectives following Strategy’s routine disclosure of its latest Bitcoin acquisition. Billy Markus, the co-creator of Dogecoin who posts under the pseudonym Shibetoshi Nakamoto, did not hold back. In a pointed and sarcastic post on X, he remarked that it “took talent” to buy Bitcoin at such elevated prices given the current market conditions.

This critique cuts to the heart of a fundamental debate in digital asset investing. On one side is Strategy’s unwavering, almost ideological, commitment to accumulating Bitcoin irrespective of short-term price movements. On the other is a more traditional, tactical view that emphasizes timing, cost basis, and risk management—a view increasingly echoed by institutional players entering the space. Markus’s comments resonated because they vocalized the silent concern of many investors: is this relentless buying a display of supreme confidence, or a dangerous disregard for financial prudence during a downturn? The criticism gained immediate traction, transforming a routine corporate filing into a referendum on investment strategy.

Strategy’s Latest Move: Doubling Down Amid a Downturn

Undeterred by market sentiment or unrealized losses, Strategy, led by executive chairman Michael Saylor, executed its consistent strategy. The company purchased an additional** 1,142 Bitcoin between February 2 and 8, 2026, at an average price of $78,815 per coin. This brings its colossal treasury to 714,644 BTC, representing approximately **3.4% of Bitcoin’s total possible supply.

The acquisition was funded through the sale of** 616,715 shares of its Class A common stock (MSTR), which raised approximately $89.5 million. This “sell equity to buy Bitcoin” mechanism is core to the company’s operational playbook. However, with Bitcoin’s price hovering around $69,000, the newly purchased coins are already underwater, and the company’s total unrealized loss on its Bitcoin holdings has swelled to over $5 billion. This situation was starkly reflected in its Q4 2025 earnings, where the company reported a massive **$12.4 billion loss, largely attributed to digital asset impairment charges under fair-value accounting rules. Despite this paper loss, the company’s leadership has not flinched, reinforcing the absolute, long-term nature of their bet.

Mounting Pressure and Market Skepticism

Strategy’s strategy is facing scrutiny on multiple fronts, extending beyond social media commentary. The company’s stock (MSTR), which trades as a leveraged proxy for Bitcoin, has been highly volatile, reflecting the underlying asset’s swings. After a brief rebound, MSTR shares opened the week of February 9th down more than 5%.

Financial analysts have also questioned the timing. Market analyst Maartunn noted that the company is already down roughly 10% on this most recent purchase and suggested the buy occurred near the peak of the previous week’s price action. Furthermore, data from prediction markets indicated that participants saw a** **nearly 28% chance that Strategy would be forced to sell some of its Bitcoin holdings before the end of the year—a possibility the company vehemently denies. This external skepticism contrasts sharply with the internal narrative of building an unshakable “digital fortress.” The pressure highlights a critical vulnerability: the strategy is entirely dependent on continuous access to favorable equity markets to fund its purchases and on Bitcoin’s long-term appreciation to validate the paper losses.

The Leadership’s Unwavering Defense: A $8,000 Red Line

In the face of mounting losses and public criticism, Strategy’s leadership has been unequivocal in its defense. During a recent earnings call, CEO Phong Le addressed concerns about the company’s leverage and potential liquidation head-on. He presented a stark threshold for financial distress: Bitcoin’s price would need to fall to** **$8,000 and remain at that level for five to six consecutive years before the company would face serious difficulty servicing its convertible debt obligations.

This statement is the cornerstone of Strategy’s risk thesis. It is designed to assure investors that the company has an immense buffer against volatility and that its debt structure (with no major maturities until 2032) is built for endurance. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor has consistently framed the company’s Bitcoin holdings not as a trading portfolio but as the foundational asset of a new corporate strategy—a shift from “business intelligence to digital asset intelligence.” This long-term horizon allows them to dismiss short-term mark-to-market losses as irrelevant noise on a multi-decade journey. However, this argument is increasingly tested as the “short-term” downturn extends and the losses deepen.

The Anatomy of the Debate: Two Visions for Crypto Assets

Strategy’s Conviction Model:

• Thesis: Bitcoin is the premier digital property and a long-term store of value superior to cash on a corporate balance sheet.
• Strategy: Aggressive, continuous accumulation using all available corporate capital tools (cash flow, debt, equity issuance).
• Risk View: Short-term price volatility is irrelevant; the only risk is not owning enough Bitcoin over a 20+ year horizon.
• Goal: Transform the corporate treasury and build a “digital fortress.”

The Structured Portfolio View (as seen in broader trends):

• Thesis: Crypto is a strategic asset class that requires professional risk management, diversification, and clear allocation targets.
• Strategy: Balanced portfolios, periodic rebalancing, use of ETFs for liquidity, and integration of structured products or fixed-term instruments for yield.
• Risk View: Volatility must be actively managed to improve risk-adjusted returns (Sharpe/Sortino ratios); cost basis matters.
• Goal: Optimize crypto exposure within a broader, resilient investment framework.

What is Strategy? From BI to Bitcoin

To understand this high-stakes drama, one must look at the company’s radical transformation.

The Original Business: Founded in 1989, Strategy was a provider of business intelligence (BI), mobile software, and cloud-based services. It was a traditional, if not particularly flashy, enterprise software company.

The Pivot: In August 2020, under the leadership of Michael Saylor, the company announced it had adopted Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset. This was a corporate strategy without precedent. Since then, it has completely reinvented itself around this single thesis.

The New Model: Strategy now operates a dual-strategy model. It continues to run its legacy BI software unit, but this operation is increasingly seen as a cash-flow engine to fund its primary business: accumulating and holding Bitcoin. The company raises debt (through convertible notes) and equity (through at-the-market offerings) not for operational expansion in software, but explicitly to convert fiat capital into Bitcoin. In essence, it has become a publicly-traded, leveraged Bitcoin holding company whose stock (MSTR) is now closely tracked as a high-beta proxy for Bitcoin itself.

Future Implications: A Test Case for Corporate Crypto

The outcome of Strategy’s bold experiment will have ramifications far beyond its own shareholders. It serves as the ultimate real-world test case for the corporate “Bitcoin as treasury reserve” thesis.

If Strategy navigates the bear market without being forced to sell and its strategy is ultimately vindicated by a new Bitcoin all-time high, it could embolden thousands of other corporations to follow suit, potentially unleashing a wave of institutional demand. However, if market conditions deteriorate further and pressure mounts—whether from creditors, shareholders, or sustained low prices—and the company is forced into a distressed sale, it could have a profound chilling effect. It would be portrayed as a cautionary tale of over-leverage and poor timing, potentially setting back corporate adoption for years.

The company stands at a crossroads, embodying the extreme edge of a market that is, in other sectors, rapidly professionalizing and structuring its approach to digital asset management. Its journey will answer a critical question: in the new era of crypto, will the most successful strategy be one of unshakable, monolithic conviction, or one of agile, risk-managed balance?

Conclusion: Conviction vs. Calculation in a Maturing Market

The criticism from Dogecoin’s Billy Markus is more than a viral soundbite; it is a symbol of the growing tension between two eras of crypto investment. Strategy’s strategy, born in the bull market of 2020-2021, represents the pinnacle of pure, narrative-driven conviction. The evolving market of 2026, however, is increasingly influenced by institutional capital that speaks the language of portfolio theory, risk-adjusted returns, and structured products.

Whether history judges Michael Saylor as a visionary who saw through the noise or a gambler who doubled down at the wrong time depends entirely on Bitcoin’s future price path. What is clear today is that his company’s actions continue to make it the most important and watched corporate entity in Bitcoin, a living, breathing experiment in radical corporate finance playing out in real-time for the entire world to see. The market is no longer just watching the price of Bitcoin; it’s watching to see if the most famous bet on Bitcoin can survive the bear.