Bitcoin company ratings are here

Nakamoto 2025-10-28 23:50 46975人围观 BTC

S&P Global Ratings (SP Global Ratings) recently announced that it has assigned a "B-" issuer credit rating to Strategy Inc. with a "stable" outlook. This is the first time in history that a major credit rating agency has evaluated a "Bitcoin company"

S&P Global Ratings (S&P Global Ratings) recently announced that it has assigned a "B-" issuer credit rating to Strategy Inc., with a "stable" outlook. This is the first time in history that a major credit rating agency has evaluated a "Bitcoin company", marking the first official connection between the cryptocurrency world and the traditional financial evaluation system.

The company's co-founder Michael Thaler highlighted the milestone on social media, while S&P's ratings provide a window into the risks and opportunities of this new business model.

01 Breakthrough meaning

For the first time, S&P Global Ratings has included “Bitcoin Treasury” companies in its assessment framework, providing an important reference for the market to understand this emerging business model.

Strategy received a "B-" rating, which is six notches away from investment grade and is classified as speculative or non-investment grade, which is often referred to as "junk grade" in the market.

Although the rating is low, the "stable" outlook indicates that S&P believes Strategy will be able to maintain its current credit profile over the coming period.

This rating provides investors with a benchmark for evaluating Bitcoin-intensive companies from a traditional financial perspective, connecting the cryptocurrency market with traditional credit evaluation systems.

02 Business model

Strategy's business model is very unique. Its core operation is: the company uses almost all of the funds raised to purchase and hold Bitcoin for a long time through the issuance of stocks and debt financing. To raise funds to buy Bitcoin, Strategy used financial instruments on a large scale, including issuing convertible bonds and preferred shares. For example, in March 2025, it raised $722 million through the issuance of preferred shares.

The company continues to purchase and hold Bitcoin as its core asset. As of October 26, 2025, Strategy held approximately 640,808 Bitcoins, with a total value of approximately US$73.7 billion, making it the world's largest Bitcoin treasury company.

The total purchase cost of these Bitcoins is approximately US$47.44 billion, with an average unit price of US$74,032. Based on current prices, its investment return rate has reached 26.0%.

03 Assets and liabilities

Strategy has accumulated approximately $74 billion worth of Bitcoin holdings through equity issuance and debt financing. The company has issued approximately US$15 billion in convertible bonds and preferred shares, of which approximately US$5 billion in "convertible bonds" will mature in 2028.

Starting in October 2025, the company will be required to pay more than $640 million in preferred stock dividends annually, which poses ongoing cash expenditure pressure.

In terms of operating performance, Strategy recorded a pre-tax profit of US$8.1 billion in the first half of 2025, but almost all of it came from unrealized gains caused by the appreciation of Bitcoin value.

What is even more noteworthy is that the company's operating cash flow during the same period was negative $37 million, indicating that its main business generated almost no actual cash flow.

04 Rating advantages and concerns

S&P recognized Strategy's good capital market accessibility, that is, it can relatively easily raise funds through the capital market. The company's stock price has risen in tandem with the price of Bitcoin, and its current market value is close to US$80 billion, providing favorable conditions for its continued financing.

S&P also noted Strategy's "relatively prudent" management of debt maturities, with no significant debt maturities in the short term, easing immediate liquidity pressures.

S&P's base case assumption is that companies will continue to pay down debt by issuing these instruments (stock and convertible debt) rather than liquidating their Bitcoin reserves.

S&P also clearly pointed out that Strategy's assets are highly concentrated in Bitcoin, its business structure is single, and its capital is weak after risk adjustment.

The company faces obvious "currency mismatch" risks - its assets are mainly Bitcoin, but its debt repayment and dividend obligations are denominated in US dollars. If the price of Bitcoin comes under pressure and debts come due at the same time, companies may be forced to sell Bitcoin at low prices. In this case, if the company restructures its convertible debt or preferred stock, S&P will treat it as "equivalent to a default."

S&P wrote in the report: “Bitcoin’s market risks are uncorrelated with traditional financial risks and may be extreme. Considering that the company's assets are highly concentrated in Bitcoin and are expected to continue to increase allocations, we most likely regard the capital structure as a long-term weakness. ”
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