Michael Saylor outsmarts Wall Street as his Bitcoin empire keeps expanding

Michael Saylor has built a Bitcoin empire while Wall Street sat on the sidelines. He turned Strategy into a corporate Bitcoin vault, using convertible bonds to stack billions in crypto while traditional firms drowned in debt. Now, that empire is growing again.

A new exchange-traded fund (ETF) focused on companies with Bitcoin holdings is launching, giving retail traders a direct line to the same convertible bond strategy that made Saylor the biggest corporate Bitcoin holder in the world.

On Friday, the REX Bitcoin Corporate Treasury Convertible Bond ETF (BMAX) makes its debut. The fund holds convertible bonds from companies that have loaded up on Bitcoin, including Strategy, which pioneered the idea of issuing equity-linked debt to buy crypto. The strategy worked so well that others copied it.

“Until now, these bonds have been difficult for individual investors to reach. BMAX removes those barriers,” said Greg King, CEO of REX Financial. The ETF also includes MARA Holdings, which adopted the convert-for-Bitcoin model after seeing Strategy’s success.

Strategy leads the convertible bond rush

Saylor has used convertible bonds to raise $9 billion, making Strategy the largest issuer of this type of debt in recent years. Other crypto firms saw the results and followed. In just four months, MARA, Riot, and Bitdeer Technologies Group collectively raised billions through the same model, grabbing a bigger share of the convertible bond market.

A convertible bond starts as a low-interest loan. If the company’s stock price jumps, the bonds convert into shares, giving investors a shot at higher returns. Hedge funds trade them using arbitrage, betting on volatility. But for regular investors, these bonds come with credit risk—if a company can’t meet its debt obligations, bondholders take the hit.

Despite the risks, institutional investors are piling in. At least five of the seven major convertible bond ETFs, including the $4 billion SPDR Bloomberg Convertible Securities ETF (CWB), hold Strategy’s bonds. The more institutional money flows in, the more Bitcoin-backed corporate finance grows.

Bitcoin investment products keep expanding

The launch of BMAX is part of a growing wave of Bitcoin-focused investment products. Earlier this week, Bitwise introduced an index tracking companies that hold Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset. Strategy alone makes up nearly 25% of that index, showing how dominant Saylor’s Bitcoin bet has become.

More than 70 public companies now hold over $60 billion in Bitcoin, with Strategy controlling $40 billion of that total. The demand for exposure to these firms has led to leveraged ETFs like MSTX and MSTU, which offer 2x daily returns on Strategy’s stock. Together, these funds have pulled in $4 billion since launching last year.

Some analysts warn of a feedback loop in the Bitcoin-backed corporate finance model. When investors buy Strategy-linked ETFs, it boosts the stock price, allowing Strategy to raise more money and buy more Bitcoin. The cycle repeats, drawing more capital into Bitcoin markets.

Wall Street crashes again as economic uncertainties grow under Trump

While Bitcoin-based investment vehicles gain traction, traditional markets are in trouble. Stocks fell sharply on Thursday as Trump’s trade war rattled investors. The S&P 500 dropped 1.39% to 5,521.52, closing in correction territory. The Dow Jones lost 537 points, finishing at 40,813.57, while the Nasdaq fell by 1.96%, dragging tech stocks down with it.

Trump escalated tensions by announcing 200% tariffs on European alcohol imports in retaliation for the EU’s 50% tariff on whisky. “This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.,” Trump posted on Truth Social. Markets saw it differently. The Russell 2000 index plummeted by 19%, approaching a bear market, according to data from CNBC.

“These tariff wars are intensifying before they’re abating. It just adds to unpredictability and uncertainty, and that’s a negative for stocks, obviously,” said Thomas Martin, portfolio manager at Globalt Investments.

Even positive inflation data didn’t stop the selloff. February’s Producer Price Index (PPI) stayed flat, contradicting forecasts of a rise. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) also showed weaker-than-expected inflation. Despite this, concerns over Trump’s trade policies overshadowed everything else, keeping investors cautious.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the market panic in a CNBC interview on Thursday, saying, “I’m not concerned about a little bit of volatility over three weeks.” But with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both down over 4% for the week, traders are looking for safe havens.

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