Michael Saylor, the outspoken Bitcoin advocate and chairman of Strategy, said the company isn’t planning to buy out other digital asset treasury firms (DATs) anytime soon — even if it might seem profitable.
Speaking during the company’s Q3 earnings call on Thursday, Saylor made it clear that mergers and acquisitions aren’t on Strategy’s radar.
“We don’t have any plans to pursue M&A activity, even if it might look accretive,” he said. “There’s just a lot of uncertainty, and these things tend to drag out six to nine months or even a year.”
Michael Saylor, who holds a 9.9% stake in the Bitcoin-focused firm, emphasized that Strategy’s priority remains strengthening its own position as the world’s largest Bitcoin-holding company.
A Profitable Quarter Amid Stock Slump
The company reported its second straight quarter of strong profits, despite recent struggles in its stock price. Shares have fallen more than 40% since July’s high of $457.22, though they are still up significantly compared to their 2020 levels when the stock traded around $12.
As of October 31, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) holds around 640,000 BTC, valued at roughly $70 billion, maintaining its dominance among public Bitcoin treasuries. Since it started accumulating Bitcoin in 2020, the firm has become a bellwether for institutional crypto exposure — thriving in bull markets and weathering crypto’s sharp downturns.
DATs: A Growing Market
Digital asset treasuries, or DATs, are companies that accumulate Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets like Ether (ETH) to give investors indirect exposure to crypto without needing to buy coins themselves. These companies have become popular among institutional investors who can’t hold crypto directly due to compliance rules.
Unlike exchange-traded funds (ETFs), DATs don’t have a built-in mechanism to match their share prices with the value of the crypto they hold, which often causes pricing gaps. However, the rise of Bitcoin and Ether ETFs has started to reshape the investment landscape. Earlier this year, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) became the firm’s most profitable fund, and U.S. regulators recently approved several altcoin spot ETFs for Solana (SOL), Litecoin (LTC), and Hedera (HBAR).
According to Bitcointreasuries.net, there are now over 200 publicly listed DATs — double the number at the start of 2024 — collectively holding more than 1 million BTC (worth about $116 billion), or roughly 5% of Bitcoin’s total supply.
No Consolidation — Yet
Earlier this year, Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick suggested large DATs like Strategy might start acquiring smaller ones to boost their holdings at a discount. He pointed to falling valuation ratios across the sector as a possible trigger for M&A activity.
But so far, Michael Saylor has shown no interest in following that playbook. For now, Strategy’s message is simple: it’s staying focused on its own Bitcoin strategy rather than buying up competitors.
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