S&P Global Ratings gave Michael Saylor’s strategy a “B-” credit rating, putting it in speculative, non-investment-grade territory—often referred to as a “junk bond”—although it said the company’s view of Bitcoin’s Treasury remains stable.
“We view the strategy’s high Bitcoin concentration, narrow business focus, weak risk-adjusted capital, and low US dollar liquidity as weaknesses,” the credit rating platform said In a strategy review on Monday.
The strategy raised 640,808 BTC Treasury mainly through equity and debt financing. The stable outlook assumes the company will carefully manage variable debt maturities and maintain preferred stock dividends, potentially through additional debt issuance, it said.
S&P Global highlighted that the strategy faces an “inherent currency mismatch,” with all debt due in US dollars while most of its dollar reserves are allocated to fund its software business, which runs roughly breakeven on earnings and cash flow.
The credit rating is significant because it marks the first time a The company dedicated to Bitcoin-Treasury has received an S&P Global Assessment – establishing a benchmark for Tradfi to assess the credit risk of companies that center their business models around Bitcoin and Crypto.
The approach is consistent with the Sky Protocol
The approach received the same score as decentralized StableCoin Issuer Sky Protocol, formerly Makerdao, in August.
S&P Global pointed to Sky Protocol’s high concentration of deposits, centralized management and weak capitalization in Justify the B-minus rating.
Strategy’s B-minus rating would have to fall six levels—to BBB-minus—to escape the “junk bond” zone.
The latest rating comes as the strategy is one of NASDAQ’s best-performing stocks in 2024, rallying 430%. MSTR has, however, returned 13% year-to-date through 2025, according to Google Finance Data.
That included an increase of 2.27% on Monday, indicating that the S&P Global rating did not hurt the company’s share price.
The strategy should increase US liquidity, reduce debt reliance
While S&P Global Said an upgrade in the next 12 months is unlikely, noted that it could raise the ratings if the strategy improves the liquidity of the US dollar, neglects the convertible debt, and continues to show strong access to the capital markets, including when the Bitcoin retreat.
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However, S&P Global said that there is a risk that the revised debt strategy could be due to a time of a “severe bitcoin stress,” which forced them to some of its bitcoins are liquid at “depressed prices.”
The strategy’s score could also drop if its access to capital markets weakens, crunching its ability to raise funds and continue the Bitcoin strategy.
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