Bitcoin Skeptic Jim Chanos Shorts Saylor’s Strategy but Buys BTC

By: crypto news|2025/05/15 15:17:05
0
Share
copy
Noted short-seller Jim Chanos, long known for his skepticism toward Bitcoin and crypto markets, has revealed a new trading position that flips his past criticisms on their head.Speaking at the Sohn Investment Conference in New York, Chanos told CNBC he is now shorting shares of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) while simultaneously buying Bitcoin directly.Describing the trade as “selling something for $2.50 and buying something for $1,” Chanos believes there is a significant mispricing between Bitcoin and the equity of firms holding it.Chanos: Strategy Stock Overvalued for Just Holding BitcoinHe argues that companies like Strategy are commanding an outsized market premium simply for holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets.“It’s ridiculous,” Chanos said, characterizing his trade as both an arbitrage play and a commentary on what he views as excessive retail speculation.MicroStrategy, now rebranded as Strategy, is led by executive chairman Michael Saylor and is the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin.As of May 2025, it holds approximately 568,840 BTC, worth an estimated $59 billion.Since the company began accumulating Bitcoin in 2020, its stock has surged more than 1,500%, far outperforming the broader market.Chanos believes that exposure to Bitcoin via equities like Strategy is an inefficient and overvalued route for investors. WATCH: Billionaire Jim Chanos says he's long on #Bitcoin $BTC but short on #MicroStrategy $MSTR, calling it “too leveraged.” pic.twitter.com/NNRSZU2V2N— Roundtable Network (@RTB_io) May 15, 2025He argues that retail investors are paying a premium for indirect Bitcoin exposure through public companies, which inflates valuations beyond rational levels.His position contrasts sharply with Strategy analysts, including Jeff Walton, who recently said in a Financial Times documentary that the firm could become “the number one publicly traded equity in the entire market” due to its BTC holdings.Chanos has long been critical of Bitcoin and the crypto sector. In 2018, he dismissed Bitcoin as a “libertarian fantasy,” arguing that in a financial collapse, digital assets would have little practical value.“If the world goes down, I’d rather have food than Bitcoin,” he once quipped. He also criticized the industry for facilitating illicit financial activity, calling crypto “the dark side of finance” in a 2023 interview.Chanos Prefers Direct Bitcoin OwnershipDespite his past criticisms, Chanos now sees direct Bitcoin ownership as a better value than owning crypto-heavy stocks.He also recently criticized the rise of spot Bitcoin ETFs, suggesting that Wall Street’s interest is driven more by fee generation than by belief in the asset.Chanos is best known for his legendary short of Enron before its collapse in 2001, which brought massive gains to his firm, Kynikos Associates.However, not all his bets have been winners. His infamous short of Tesla cost him heavily as the stock soared over 2,000%, leading to his fund’s eventual conversion into a family office.As reported, Jeff Walton, an analyst at Strategy, has said the firm may one day rise to become the top publicly traded company in the world.Walton believes the company’s unprecedented exposure to Bitcoin, which recently crossed $104,000, gives it a unique edge.“Strategy holds more of the best asset and most pristine collateral on the planet than any other company, by multiples,” he said.The post Bitcoin Skeptic Jim Chanos Shorts Saylor’s Strategy but Buys BTC appeared first on Cryptonews.

-- Price

--

You may also like

$10,000 in TRUMP Token vs. $10,000 in Nasdaq: The "Trump Trade" That Actually Worked in 2026

TRUMP Token lost more than 96% after its launch, while Nasdaq stocks and NVIDIA delivered strong gains. Compare what happened to a $10,000 investment and explore why asset fundamentals matter more than market hype.

Morning Report | Vitalik outlines Ethereum's long-term roadmap, Lean Ethereum will become the third major iteration; SK Hynix seeks to attract more AI investors by listing in the U.S

July 5 Market Important Events Overview

The impact of OUSD on Circle, Tether, and Paxos: not a single negative factor, but a more complex reshaping of competition

OUSD will not be the last new competitor; Circle needs to respond more actively in terms of products, distribution, and ecosystem collaboration.

Li Feifei's latest long article: When video generation, robots, and NVIDIA all claim to be world models, we need a taxonomy

Language gives machines a way to talk about the world. The world model is the means by which machines ultimately understand, imagine, reason, and interact with it.

Blaming the desolation of the cryptocurrency world on the rise of AI is a form of intellectual laziness

The emergence of giants signifies a mature business model. Although it will reduce speculative space, there is also enough room for error, allowing for the continuous emergence of new forces.

Strategy Founder: The Next 10 Years of Bitcoin

In the next decade, the biggest evolution of Bitcoin is precisely "responding to change with invariance." The four-year cycle is giving way to capital flows such as ETFs, corporate and sovereign reserves, and bank credit, while digital credit and digital currency will grow layer upon layer on top of...

Contents

Popular coins

Latest Crypto News

Read more
iconiconiconiconiconiconicon
Customer Support:@weikecs
Business Cooperation:@weikecs
Quant Trading & MM:bd@weex.com
VIP Program:support@weex.com