Strategy's Bitcoin Strategy Outperforms Nasdaq, S&P 500 by 528%

At the recent MIT Bitcoin Expo, Phong Le, CEO of Strategy, delivered a keynote speech advocating for the adoption of Bitcoin as a core component of modern corporate treasury strategies. Strategy, with over 528,000 BTC on its balance sheet, has become one of the most prominent and successful public companies to embrace Bitcoin as a primary reserve asset.

Le highlighted that Strategy has outperformed major indices such as the Nasdaq, S&P 500, and the Mag Seven, as well as Bitcoin itself. While Michael Saylor, the Chairman of Strategy, laid the philosophical groundwork for Bitcoin’s corporate use case starting in 2020, Le’s keynote focused on the practical and financial outcomes of this strategy. He challenged corporate leaders to rethink their financial assumptions and reimagine their balance sheets in the context of the Bitcoin era.

Le began his talk by addressing the underperformance of corporate America. He noted that out of the 35 million companies in the U.S., only the top tier, primarily S&P 500 firms, are meeting market expectations. The rest are stagnating due to entrenched financial orthodoxy, which emphasizes optimizing the income statement, reinvesting in traditional assets, and focusing on quarterly thinking. Le argued that this approach leads to systemic underperformance, as even private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds rarely beat the S&P 500 benchmark.

Strategy’s approach, according to Le, was to treat the balance sheet as a strategic asset rather than a passive one. Unlike most companies that park cash in low-yield government bonds or commodities like gold, Strategy chose Bitcoin. Le pointed out that Bitcoin offers not just return potential but also structural advantages, such as 24/7 trading, independence from central bank policy, and instant global liquidity. Traditional capital markets, by contrast, operate only 19% of the time.

Strategy has fully embraced this approach, updating its Bitcoin reserves in real time and providing daily updates on its website. Le emphasized that current accounting standards, which are built for quarterly earnings and slow-moving financial instruments, do not work well with Bitcoin. Under GAAP, Bitcoin is treated as an intangible asset, marked down when prices fall but not adjusted upward when they rise, creating a distorted view of financial health. To address this, Strategy has adopted a more transparent approach, reflecting the always-on nature of Bitcoin and signaling to the market that it is playing by a different set of rules.

Since adopting its Bitcoin treasury strategy, Strategy’s stock has become one of the most performant and interesting in the U.S. market. Its performance has consistently outpaced traditional benchmarks, not just because Bitcoin appreciated, but because Strategy leaned into its identity as a Bitcoin-native public company. Le highlighted other companies, such as Metaplanet, Semler Scientific, and KULR Technology Group, which have replicated this model and outperformed the S&P 500 and Bitcoin after adopting similar treasury strategies.

Le closed his keynote by challenging executives and investors to question conventional wisdom. He emphasized that Strategy’s success came from rejecting the status quo and embracing original and independent thinking. As the first public company to turn Bitcoin into a cornerstone of its balance sheet, Strategy has redefined what’s possible in corporate finance, allowing corporations to find freedom from the average.