Schiff Sovereign Co-Founder Slams Strategy for Abandoning Software Business in Favor of Bitcoin
James Hickman, co-founder of Schiff Sovereign LLC, has launched a scathing attack on Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), accusing the company of essentially abandoning its software business to become a glorified Bitcoin investment vehicle that offers poor value to investors.
In a blistering email to subscribers published June 3, Hickman argued that Strategy’s transformation into what it calls a “Bitcoin Treasury Company” represents one of the “strangest things” he’s ever seen in financial markets, with investors paying roughly double the value of the company’s underlying Bitcoin holdings.
The Overvaluation Problem
Strategy currently owns 580,955 bitcoins worth $61.5 billion at current prices, yet the company’s enterprise value exceeds $118 billion—nearly twice the value of its Bitcoin holdings. Hickman noted this means investors buying Strategy stock are effectively paying $210,000 for Bitcoin that trades at around $105,000.
“If you are willing to pay $210,000 for Bitcoin today, please contact me right away and I will gladly sell you some of mine,” Hickman wrote, highlighting what he sees as the absurdity of the premium. The company itself tracks this overvaluation on its website under the metric “mNAV”—the multiple by which investors overpay for the company’s Bitcoin. Strategy’s financial models go as far as to assume this premium will increase to 3x, according to Hickman’s analysis of company presentations.
Software Business in Decline
Hickman’s criticism centered on Strategy’s apparent neglect of its original software business. In Strategy’s 92-page Q1 presentation, only one slide (#26) was devoted to its software business, representing about 1% of the presentation.
Financial data supports Hickman’s concerns about the software business’s deteriorating performance. For Q4 2024, for example, the company reported a GAAP operating loss of $1.016 billion, with revenue declining 3% year-over-year to $120.7 million
The company’s software operations, once profitable, are now losing money. Reading the footnotes and financial addenda reveals that Strategy’s “cloud-based, AI-powered” software loses significant amounts of money, Hickman noted.
Made-Up Metrics and Financial Engineering
Hickman particularly criticized Strategy’s creation of novel financial metrics that he compared to WeWork’s infamous “Community Adjusted Earnings.” Strategy has introduced metrics like “Bitcoin Yield,” “Bitcoin Multiple,” “BTC $ Income,” and “Bitcoin Torque,” requiring six full pages of definitions to explain these terms.
The company even admits that “BTC $ Income is not equivalent to ‘income’ in the traditional financial context”—in other words, it’s not actually income, despite being labeled as such. Strategy’s ambitious Bitcoin plan calls for raising $42 billion in new capital. Half of this would come from debt, while the other half would dilute existing shareholders. The company has already completed $20 billion of this plan, significantly ahead of initial timelines, primarily through a combination of equity sales and convertible note offerings.
A Broader Critique of Crypto Hype
Despite being pro-cryptocurrency since the early 2010s, Hickman argued that Strategy represents everything wrong with current crypto market speculation. He concluded that shareholders are being asked to “spread the word” and “educate their peers” about Bitcoin and Strategy securities—essentially helping to maintain what he characterizes as a bubble.
“The bottom line is that there’s most likely a lot more upside to own Bitcoin directly,” Hickman concluded. “And the hard truth is that if you can’t figure out how to own Bitcoin directly, you probably shouldn’t bother buying Bitcoin to begin with… let alone paying twice the price for it.” The company recently rebranded from MicroStrategy to Strategy in February 2025, emphasizing its evolution into what it calls “the world’s first and largest Bitcoin Treasury Company.”
