January 30 News, the representative company in Bitcoin corporate finance layout, Strategy, has once again been in the spotlight. The community continues to debate whether it holds “paper Bitcoin.” In response, founder and chairman Michael Saylor publicly stated that the company has purchased real Bitcoin, and has conducted audits of custodial institutions, with no rehypothecation involved.
Currently, Strategy holds approximately 712,000 Bitcoins, most of which were accumulated over the past two years. In 2024, the company plans to invest about $20 billion to buy BTC, and in 2025, an additional approximately $23 billion. By 2026, Strategy has added over 40,000 Bitcoins, with its purchase scale approaching several times the total new issuance on the network this year.
However, such large-scale accumulation has not led to a significant price increase, prompting some industry insiders to doubt the authenticity of its holdings. Security researcher and CasaHODL founder Jameson Lopp publicly pointed out that if these funds do not correspond to real on-chain Bitcoin, then the logic of “accumulating to push prices higher” does not hold.
On-chain analysis shows that Strategy currently stores Bitcoin across multiple custodial institutions. About 420,000 Bitcoins are traceable on the chain, while over 180,000 cannot be directly verified due to custodial structure issues. Analysts believe that more than 110,000 BTC lack a clear on-chain path, which is the core of external skepticism.
Nevertheless, Saylor insists that the company’s assets are secure and transparent, emphasizing that “real Bitcoin” is the foundation of its long-term strategy. As of press time, Strategy’s stock price slightly declined to $157.45, and Bitcoin experienced short-term fluctuations after the FOMC meeting.
The discussion around “real BTC” and custodial transparency continues. The controversy over the credibility of institutional holdings is becoming one of the focal points in the current Bitcoin market.
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