Grayscale Analyst Calls on Strategy to Offload $3 Billion in Bitcoin Amid Growing Financial Pressure

Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale, has gone public with a bold recommendation: Strategy (ticker: MSTR) should consider selling approximately $3 billion worth of its Bitcoin holdings to meet looming cash obligations and rebuild shaken investor confidence. The suggestion comes at a particularly turbulent moment for the Virginia-based firm, which is facing mounting scrutiny over its financial structure and market valuation.

Pandl's argument centers on Strategy's preferred stock situation. According to his analysis, if the company raises the dividend on its STRC preferred stock by 50 basis points in the coming week, it would translate into roughly $100 million in additional dividend obligations spread across the next two years. In Pandl's assessment, such a move would likely fail to restore market confidence — and could even deepen concerns. A more decisive action, such as a substantial Bitcoin liquidation, may instead be what's needed to stabilize the company's standing.

Adding to the sense of urgency, Strategy's enterprise multiple to net asset value (mNAV) has dropped below 1 for the first time ever. In plain terms, the market is now pricing the company at less than the value of the Bitcoin it actually holds on its balance sheet — a historically significant and troubling signal for long-term holders and institutional observers alike.

Researcher André Dragosch offered a contrarian read on the situation. He noted that the current valuation implicitly assumes the market expects Strategy to sell around 1% of its Bitcoin stack. However, Dragosch argued that if such a sale remains unlikely, MSTR shares may actually be growing more attractive as a buy opportunity at current price levels.

Not everyone in the crypto community agrees that intervention is necessary. Crypto commentator Bit Paine highlighted what he sees as an underappreciated feature of the STRC structure: its effective yield rises naturally as the price falls, creating an organic equilibrium that makes the security appealing on a risk-adjusted basis — even without management manually tweaking interest rates.

Paine also characterized the current market environment as a "panicked rush to the exit" resembling a bank run mentality, which he believes is dragging STRC's price well beneath its true credit value. His recommended course of action is relatively restrained: maximize USD reserves, make minimal or no upward adjustments to the interest rate, and allow both the market and Bitcoin itself time to recover.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back echoed a similar sentiment, pushing back against those who are treating STRC as distressed debt. Back emphasized that Strategy's convertible notes are long-dated instruments, suggesting that short-term panic is obscuring the more nuanced long-term picture. In his view, applying a distressed-debt framework to STRC fundamentally misrepresents the company's actual financial position.

The debate reflects broader uncertainty in the crypto market as Bitcoin faces continued price pressure. Whether Strategy opts for a dramatic Bitcoin sell-off, a measured financial adjustment, or simply holds its course remains to be seen — but the conversation around its next move is clearly intensifying across institutional and retail circles alike.