21Shares maintains a $100K year-end base case for Bitcoin in its mid-year report. The firm also highlights $54,000 as Bitcoin’s aggregate cost basis, a level it says the price has not fallen below in this cycle. It characterizes the pullback as a more mature correction rather than a panic-driven collapse.

Bitcoin could extend its decline and drop to as low as $55,000 before finding a bottom, analysts at 10x Research said. The firm points to a stronger U.S. dollar and expectations of a more hawkish Federal Reserve as key headwinds. It added that several indicators suggest a potential low could form between late August and October.

Michael Saylor’s “buy and hold forever” Bitcoin strategy is drawing renewed scrutiny as both MSTR and BTC trade at yearly lows. Economist and longtime Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff said Bitcoin investors are “way too complacent” about the risks he sees building. Strategy’s stock MSTR fell to $103 on Tuesday, a 23-month low, as the company’s preferred stock STRC dropped nearly 13%.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc. is drawing criticism, including from within crypto circles, for its aggressive Bitcoin-buying approach. Ki Young Ju, founder of on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant, said in a recent post that the company should pause its large BTC purchases before rising “liquidity sink” risk harms the firm. In a lengthy tweet, he argued Strategy should replace ad-hoc buying with a more systematic, model-driven framework.

Strategy should suspend its bitcoin buying and rebuild cash reserves, Cryptoquant said, after the company’s dividend coverage slid from more than seven years to 14 months. The research firm pointed to preferred shares that have continued to trade below face value as a sign of investor caution.

Bitcoin is trading around $62,000 with little movement, but the stability masks a deeper structural concern. CryptoQuant has urged Strategy, the Michael Saylor-led corporate bitcoin buyer, to halt BTC accumulation and rebuild cash reserves before pressure around its preferred stock escalates. The recommendation comes as Strategy’s preferred stock trades at a steep discount and its dividend burden has risen sharply, according to CryptoQuant.

Patrick Witt says Bitcoin “stands alone” in U.S. policy. He adds that any new government Bitcoin acquisition must currently be budget-neutral.

Grayscale Head of Research Zach Pandl said Strategy’s growing preferred-stock obligations could create a structural cash-flow squeeze. He warned the company’s $15.5B preferred stack and roughly $1.5B in annual dividends may compel repeated Bitcoin sales, challenging Michael Saylor’s accumulation thesis, according to Grayscale.