Ripple CEO remains bullish on Bitcoin but criticizes Strategy's approach as "harmful to the crypto market"

Odaily Odaily星球日报讯 Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated in a recent CNBC interview that he remains long-term bullish on Bitcoin, while strongly criticizing Michael Saylor and his strategy of continuously purchasing Bitcoin through preferred equity financing, calling the "financial engineering" approach a negative influence on the crypto market.

Garlinghouse pointed out that Strategy's reliance on issuing preferred shares (such as STRC) to raise funds for Bitcoin purchases is essentially a distraction from market attention rather than creating long-term value. He emphasized: "Financial engineering does not create long-term value. The long-term value of digital assets comes from real utility." He specifically noted that STRC shares have already fallen to a discount of approximately 25% below their par value, which he described as a "strong rejection" of this financing structure. Amid market pressure this week, Strategy's common stock fell to its lowest level since February 2024, and Bitcoin briefly dropped below $59,000.

On the market front, a CryptoQuant report indicated that if the dividend structure continues, Strategy's cash buffer has shrunk from over seven years to approximately 14 months, suggesting the company should pause Bitcoin purchases and rebuild its reserve funds. Currently, STRC trading below $100 has temporarily rendered its "issuance-to-purchase" financing flywheel ineffective. However, Benchmark-StoneX analyst Mark Palmer believes this pattern is more of an "efficiency decline" rather than a systemic breakdown. Meanwhile, Ripple continues to maintain an industry-contrarian perspective, emphasizing that its ecosystem asset XRP follows a different value path compared to Bitcoin. (CoinDesk)