Schiff Slams MicroStrategy Again Amid Rising Leverage Concerns

Peter Schiff is renewing his attack on MicroStrategy (MSTR), arguing the company’s five-year Bitcoin accumulation strategy has produced a negative total return and that its STRC preferred stock structure depends on price appreciation that has not materialized.

Schiff posted on X that MSTR has deployed approximately $64 billion into Bitcoin (BTC) since adopting its treasury strategy. The position’s total return remains negative as of May 23, he argued. He added that the entire STRC framework depends on bitcoin appreciating roughly 30% per year to fund its 11.5% annual dividend.

STRC’s Yield Math Under the Microscope

Strategy set its STRC dividend rate at 11.50% for March 2026, the seventh consecutive monthly increase since the preferred shares launched in July 2025. The rate is adjusted monthly to keep STRC shares trading near their $100 par value.

Schiff’s critique centers on the sustainability of that obligation. He contends that covering an 11.5% annual payout requires Bitcoin to compound at a rate far above historical averages.

He also notes that ongoing STRC issuance raises that threshold each month as more shares enter the float.

Schiff has previously labeled MSTR a Ponzi scheme, arguing the structure is self-reinforcing on the downside. Under that reading, weak bitcoin performance reduces MSTR’s ability to issue new shares at a premium, limiting the capital available to fund dividends.

“Well it hasn’t even managed to earn 2.5% yet, even over five years, let alone every year for five years. Plus MSTR keeps issuing more STRC. So that 2.5% hurdle rate gets higher every week,” Schiff said.

Pushback From the Thread

Not all observers accept the framing. One commenter argued that MSTR’s bitcoin holdings far exceed its dividend obligations and that a 2.5% compound annual growth rate would be sufficient to cover payments.

Schiff rejected that figure, noting that bitcoin has not even reached that modest threshold since MSTR began accumulating.

A separate participant raised a different issue, arguing the real problem is retail investors failing to grasp the volatility of a leveraged bitcoin proxy rather than any lack of disclosure.

Saylor has publicly challenged Schiff to defend his position, citing MSTR’s long-run price performance relative to traditional assets.

Strategy holds 818,869 BTC at an average cost of roughly $75,540 per coin. With bitcoin trading near $76,800 on May 23, the position sits only marginally above its cost basis.

Whether that margin justifies Schiff’s death-spiral warning or signals a temporary trough will depend on bitcoin’s trajectory. Strategy’s MSTR Bitcoin acquisitions continue, with Saylor yet to acknowledge any structural limit to the approach.