‘We buy real Bitcoin’- Michael Saylor rejects ‘paper BTC’ claims

After coping with the specter of MSCI index exclusion, the pioneer in Bitcoin company treasury, Technique (previously MicroStrategy), is going through one other FUD. 

Some neighborhood members claimed the agency has been shopping for derivatives or “rehypothecated” cash, often known as paper BTC. 

Nonetheless, Michael Saylor, founder and chairman of Technique, dismissed these claims and clarified, 

“We purchase actual Bitcoin. We audit our custodians. We don’t rehypothecate. You shouldn’t both.”

Technique faces scrutiny over BTC holdings

At present, Technique holds 712K BTC, with a lot of the stash collected prior to now two years. In 2024, the agency invested about $20 billion in Bitcoin [BTC] and added one other $23 billion within the crypto asset in 2025.

To this point, in 2026, it has poured near $4 billion into the crypto asset and bought over 40K BTC. 

Supply: CryptoQuant

Apparently, the 2026 bid rivaled even the 11,700 BTC mined this yr. To some analysts, akin to Jesse Myers, this meant the asset would finally rally amid the provision crunch. 

However the worth charts have been muted regardless of the Technique’s aggressive multi-billion-dollar BTC bids. 

This received Jameson Lopp, a safety researcher and Founding father of the BTC custody platform CasaHODL, questioning whether or not he’s really shopping for the actual BTC. He posed, 

“Your thesis is wise (BTC rallying as Technique buys extra)… beneath the belief that he’s shopping for actual bitcoin.”

He questioned whether or not the agency can confirm that its holdings aren’t being utilized by its custodians for different functions. 

“Does Technique really confirm that their Bitcoin solely belongs to them and isn’t rehypothecated? I’m skeptical.”

Technique’s +110K BTC untraceable

Technique at the moment makes use of three custodians to retailer its BTC: Coinbase, Anchorage, and Anchorage Digital. About 420K BTC of Technique stash is held at Coinbase and Anchorage, and is traceable as a result of they use segregated addresses, in accordance with an on-chain analyst. 

The truth is, the stash held by these two custodians can also be tracked by Arkham, which estimates it at 415K BTC.

Over 183K BTC was reportedly despatched to Constancy Custody, however because it doesn’t separate wallets like Coinbase and Anchorage, it turns into difficult to trace these holdings. 

Supply: Arkham

That leaves over 110K BTC unaccounted for throughout these three custodians, noted analyst Sani. The truth is, that is the primary competition and what critics use to query whether or not Technique actually holds all the +700K BTC it claims to personal. 

At press time, Saylor didn’t reply to social media calls to share ‘proofs’ of the holdings of the untraceable BTC.

In the meantime, Technique’s MSTR inventory worth slid about 2% to $157.45 at press time. This adopted BTC’s 1.5% decline after the FOMC assembly.  

Closing Ideas 

• Saylor denied claims that his agency has been shopping for ‘paper BTC’ or rehypothecating its holdings for different functions. 
• Over 110K BTC owned by Technique aren’t traceable, whereas over 185K BTC held at Constancy Custody can’t be verified.