Saylor framed the current top-of-market structure as roughly \u201c$2 trillion worth of Bitcoin,\u201d with \u201cprobably $1.8 trillion held by retail investors or offshore investors\u201d who \u201ccannot access the traditional banking system.\u201d The practical implication, he said, is that Bitcoin holders who want to unlock liquidity face a narrow menu compared with traditional equity portfolios.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I posted $10 million of Apple stock with JP Morgan or Morgan Stanley<\/a>, I could take a $5 million loan at SOFR plus 50 basis points and I could spend it,\u201d Saylor said. \u201cBut you can\u2019t even post $10 million worth of Bitcoin with JP Morgan or Morgan Stanley right now. Therefore, you can\u2019t take a loan. Therefore, you have to go to a shadow banking system. You have to go offshore.\u201d<\/p>\n That constraint, he argued, forces holders into behavior that mechanically caps upside. The \u201csafe way\u201d to monetize is simply to sell, which \u201cdamps the upside.\u201d The next option is borrowing from a small pool of crypto lenders that don\u2019t rehypothecate collateral, but Saylor described that market as both expensive and shallow\u2014\u201ca few billion dollars probably\u201d\u2014with rates he characterized as closer to \u201cSOFR plus 400\u201d or \u201cplus 500 basis points,\u201d rather than traditional prime-style spreads.<\/p>\n He pointed to a newer channel, banks extending credit against spot Bitcoin ETFs like BlackRock\u2019s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT)<\/a>, but described it as early, limited, and still costly versus conventional secured lending.<\/p>\n The most controversial pathway, Saylor said, is where the cheapest funding appears: counterparties offering low-rate Bitcoin-backed credit in exchange for control of the collateral. \u201cI\u2019ve had people offer me Bitcoin-backed credit at 1% or 0%,\u201d he said, before emphasizing the trade-off. \u201cThere\u2019s always the catch [\u2026] they want me to transfer the Bitcoin to them so they can rehypothecate it.\u201d<\/p>\n Saylor then tied rehypothecation directly to spot-market suppression, arguing that collateral handed to intermediaries can be effectively \u201csold\u201d multiple times through reuse. \u201cSo, if you have $10 million [\u2026] you can get a 3 or 4% loan, but then it gets rehypothecated,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, your $10 million of Bitcoin gets sold once, gets sold twice, gets sold three times [\u2026] You might actually create $30 or $40 million worth of selling because the Bitcoin that you posted [\u2026] rehypothecated it three times.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Saylor: Shadow banking \u201crehypothecation\u201d suppresses Bitcoin price<\/p>\n On February 27, 2026, in an interview with Natalie Brunell, Michael Saylor discussed why Bitcoin failed to surpass $126,000.<\/p>\n He suggested that the exclusion of Bitcoin from traditional banks like JP\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/ODpOEvhi2j<\/a><\/p>\n\n
![\"Bitcoin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbtc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BTCUSDT_2026-03-05_09-45-53.png?resize=1024%2C502\")
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