Longtime Bitcoin skeptic Jim Chanos has reversed his stance on crypto—but not without a twist. Speaking at the Sohn Investment Conference and during an interview with CNBC, the renowned short-seller revealed a dual-position trade: he’s shorting shares of Strategy Inc. (formerly MicroStrategy) while accumulating Bitcoin directly.
Chanos described the trade as “selling something overpriced and buying the same thing at a discount,” highlighting what he sees as a growing misalignment between the price of Bitcoin and the market value of companies holding large amounts of the asset.
Chanos Questions Strategy’s Valuation Premium
Chanos argued that companies like Strategy are being overvalued simply for holding BTC, pointing out that retail investors are paying steep premiums for indirect exposure.
“It’s irrational,” he said, noting that this trade isn’t just about profit—it’s a warning about speculation in the equities market.
Strategy currently holds 568,840 BTC, worth around $59 billion, making it the largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder. Under the leadership of Michael Saylor, the company’s Bitcoin strategy has propelled its stock more than 1,500% since 2020.
Despite this success, Chanos views the valuation as excessively inflated compared to the value of the underlying asset. He believes direct ownership of Bitcoin is both more efficient and better value.
Contrasting Views on Strategy’s Future
Chanos’s take directly counters Strategy analyst Jeff Walton, who recently said in a Financial Times documentary that the firm could become the top public company globally due to its crypto exposure.
Walton and Saylor have painted a vision of Strategy as a multi-trillion-dollar business, with Saylor forecasting Bitcoin could reach $13 million per coin by 2045.
But Chanos isn’t buying it. He believes the company’s share price is detached from Bitcoin’s actual value, and that speculative hype—not fundamentals—is driving investor demand.
From Critic to BTC Believer—With Caveats
Though Chanos once dismissed Bitcoin as a “libertarian pipedream” and questioned its usefulness in a crisis, he now views BTC as a more compelling investment than crypto equities.
He’s also critical of Wall Street’s newfound love for Bitcoin ETFs, saying the enthusiasm is motivated more by management fees than conviction in blockchain.
Chanos made his name shorting Enron in 2001, and while some of his later trades—such as his short of Tesla—proved costly, his current Bitcoin trade is a bet on value divergence in crypto markets.
While Strategy bulls tout its BTC treasury as a strategic advantage, Chanos is betting that the smarter move is owning the real thing.
