Michael Saylor Warns Strategy Holders as BIP-110 Threatens Bitcoin Consensus Rules

Michael Saylor says Bitcoin has won. But he’s also warning it could lose — from the inside. And his company, Strategy, just backed that concern with five straight weeks of zero Bitcoin purchases.

That pause is notable. Strategy built its entire brand on buying Bitcoin relentlessly, almost mechanically, week after week. So stopping cold for five consecutive weeks isn’t a minor blip. The company has instead been stacking cash — $3.75 billion worth now, after adding $525 million to reserves recently. The funding came from selling $544.5 million in MSTR stock, on top of $1.26 billion in equity sales across the three prior weeks. The share price, worth noting, sits well below its 52-week high.

BIP-110 and the Fork Nobody Agrees On

The timing of the pause lines up pretty closely with the rise of BIP-110, a proposed soft fork for Bitcoin that’s become one of the more divisive technical debates in the ecosystem right now. The proposal would cap the size of arbitrary data fields in transactions. Miner signaling started back in December 2025. Many miners have basically ignored it. But the proposal runs on a fixed schedule regardless — and that schedule matters.

By August 2026, non-signaling blocks would be ruled invalid. Activation follows shortly after. That’s not far off.

Saylor’s concern isn’t subtle. He thinks changing Bitcoin’s consensus rules — the foundational logic that governs how the network operates — risks undermining everyone who holds or builds on Bitcoin. He’s flagged BIP-110 specifically as something that could censor valid transactions, introduce new security vulnerabilities, and push up validation costs. Blockstream CEO Adam Back has also pushed back against BIP-110, taking issue with its lowered activation threshold. That’s a significant voice in the room. Back isn’t someone who throws around protocol objections lightly.

So you’ve got Saylor on one side calling BIP-110 a self-inflicted risk, Back raising technical objections, and a chunk of the mining community that seems to be sitting on its hands. The Bitcoin development world is not unified here.

Strategy’s Numbers Are Uncomfortable

Set aside the protocol drama for a second and look at the balance sheet. Strategy holds 843,775 BTC. The company’s stated goal is 1 million BTC by end of 2026. That leaves roughly 156,225 BTC to go, with about 22 weeks left in the year — and right now, they’re buying nothing.

More context: Strategy Sits on $3.2B Cash Pile as Saylor Teases Bitcoins Next Color

The math is pretty rough. To hit 1 million BTC on schedule from a standing start today would require enormous weekly purchases. Those aren’t happening. Whether the target gets quietly pushed or abandoned isn’t clear yet.

The average cost per coin sits near $75,494. Bitcoin trades around $63,817. That’s a significant unrealized loss sitting on the books. Not a crisis necessarily — Strategy has always played a long game — but it’s not a comfortable position either.

Strategy’s preferred stock, STRC, trades below its $100 par value. The company did recently raise dividends and authorize a buyback program, but STRC hasn’t responded the way management probably hoped. Annual dividend obligations run approximately $1.76 billion. That’s the core reason the cash reserve exists — Strategy needs liquidity to cover those payments without being forced to liquidate Bitcoin into a down market.

What the August Window Could Change

The BIP-110 signaling window opening in August is probably the next real inflection point for both the protocol debate and Strategy’s posture. If miners start signaling in meaningful numbers, the fork moves closer to reality. If they don’t, the proposal could stall or die. Either outcome changes the calculus for a company that holds more Bitcoin than almost any other entity on the planet.

More context: Strategy Raises $544.5 Million in MSTR Shares While Buying Back STRC Preferred Stock

Strategy files weekly reports. A sixth straight non-purchasing week would set a record for the company’s longest pause. No details yet on when — or whether — buying resumes.

Saylor has built a reputation on conviction. Loud, public, unwavering conviction about Bitcoin’s trajectory. So the combination of a buying halt, a swelling cash reserve, and vocal warnings about internal threats to the protocol is a different kind of signal than the market’s used to hearing from him. Whether it’s tactical caution or something deeper, the company’s average cost of $75,494 per coin — against a spot price of $63,817 — sits there as the bluntest fact of all.