Despite spending approximately $54.52 billion on 717,131 BTC that is now worth less than $49 billion at current prices, Strategy’s CEO Michael Saylor remains defiant in the face of headlines and news publications that were quick to point out the hits his firm was taking on its Bitcoin portfolio.
Cryptopolitan reported that Strategy documented a $12.4 billion net loss in its latest earnings release. However, Saylor’s Strategy is not the only one under pressure on its large crypto positions.
According to CryptoQuant analyst, DarkFrost, Ethereum whales are already on the wrong end of profitability, and they may be in for a rougher ride as ETH price has not even tested multi-year lows yet, unlike Bitcoin.
That scenario could spell further distress for Tom Lee, the co-founder and CEO of Bitmine, the leading Ethereum treasury firm with a 4.37 million ETH stash worth $8.7 billion at current prices.
Saylor dismisses capitulation fears
As Bitcoin tested depths around $60,000 and Ethereum dipped as low as $1,800 to start what has been a turbulent year for the crypto industry, many publications ran headlines asking questions about what point Saylor will say enough is enough and cut his losses, which peaked at almost $16,000 per Bitcoin on the over 700,000 BTC his firm held.
However, the Bitcoin advocate continues to adhere to a strict no-sale policy. In his latest tweets, Saylor proclaimed: “If it’s not going to zero, it’s going to a million,” referring to Bitcoin.
Earlier this month, on February 10, Saylor dismissed the notion of Bitcoin ever going back to zero as a realistic outcome. In his words: “If you think it’s going to zero, then we’ll deal with that, but I don’t think it’s going to zero, and I don’t think it’s going to $8,000, either.”
In a further show of confidence in the leading digital asset, Saylor continued, “If bitcoin falls 90% for the next four years, we’ll refinance the debt. We’ll just roll it forward,” Saylor said, implying that he can still find funds for more Bitcoin purchases even in the most bearish conditions. He also pointed to Bitcoin volatility as a reason lenders stay interested.
The executive is definitely not shying away from the volatility argument, either. In a graph comparing the volatility of major stocks over the last year, Saylor stated: “We mitigate $BTC volatility to create Digital Credit $STRC. We amplify it to create Digital Equity $MSTR,” implying how Strategy makes the most of high and low-volatility fundraising instruments.
Saylor’s average price is irrelevant to the question of whether Saylor needs to sell Bitcoin, according to Arkham. “Saylor can remain underwater for as long as he wants, as long as he can service his obligations for Strategy’s convertible notes.”
Despite these headaches, the zero thesis remains far from Saylor’s mind, with the million-dollar target considered a more reasonable long-term outcome for Bitcoin.
Bitmine and Ethereum whales have avoided the worst for now
On the Ethereum side of things, max pain may still be ahead for Tom Lee and other Ethereum whales, whose profitability has steadily declined along with ETH’s slowdown from August 2025’s all-time high price of $4,946.
According to CryptoQuant analysis, “the unrealised profit ratio for Ethereum whales has now turned negative across all represented cohorts”
Whales with between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH portfolios are at a -0.21 figure. The 10,000-100,000 group is at -0.18, while whales like BitMine with over 100,000 ETH portfolios are in the -0.08 territory.
The kicker is that, unlike Bitcoin, which has dipped below its level from April last year, ETH has not even revisited those lows yet, displaying commendable resilience so far.
“Should ETH decline further, these whales could find themselves in significant distress, potentially forcing them to capitulate and offload substantial portions of their holdings.”
According to Cryptopolitan reporting in mid-February, the company’s ETH holdings are now worth less than $9 billion, compared with its estimated $15 billion acquisition cost.
However, like Saylor, Lee is unfazed by the possibility of Ethereum going below its current level, citing FundStrat research comparing “cost basis” onchain, or ETH “realized price” with current ETH price to prove that ETH price is close to the bottom.
Despite the uncertainty in the market, the leading corporate Bitcoin and Ethereum whales remain defiant that the only way to go in terms of price is up.
Cryptopolitan price analysts see Bitcoin touching $150,000 in a best-case scenario this year, with $68,000 as the bottom. Meanwhile, Ethereum is projected to trade at about $3,284.71 by the end of 2026.
