Global investment bank Canaccord Genuity delivered a significant market update on February 15, 2025, slashing its price target for MicroStrategy (MSTR) to $185 from $474 while maintaining its Buy rating. This dramatic 61% adjustment reflects evolving market conditions and provides crucial insights into institutional perspectives on corporate Bitcoin strategies. The investment bank communicated this change through official channels, with financial journalist Walter Bloomberg reporting the development. Despite the substantial target reduction, analysts maintained their Buy recommendation, indicating continued confidence in the company's long-term strategy.
MicroStrategy has established itself as the leading publicly-traded corporate holder of Bitcoin, with its strategy fundamentally tied to cryptocurrency market performance. Under Executive Chairman Michael Saylor's leadership, the company had accumulated approximately 190,000 Bitcoin as of early 2025. This aggressive accumulation strategy has transformed MicroStrategy from a traditional business intelligence software company into what many analysts describe as a "Bitcoin proxy stock." Canaccord Genuity's maintained Buy rating provides important institutional validation for this controversial strategy, reflecting growing institutional acceptance of digital assets as legitimate portfolio components, albeit with adjusted risk parameters.
Simultaneously, banking giant Citigroup released a comprehensive analysis warning that Bitcoin faces a crucial technical and psychological test at the $70,000 threshold. The report, released in March 2025, cites slowing institutional investment through spot Bitcoin ETFs and persistent regulatory questions as significant headwinds. Citigroup analysts identify the $70,000 level as a critical juncture, marking the approximate trading range Bitcoin established before the most recent U.S. presidential election cycle.
The report highlights a dramatic slowdown in spot Bitcoin ETF inflows, suggesting the initial wave of institutional allocation may be reaching saturation. Weekly net inflows have declined substantially from over $1 billion weekly in late 2024 to approximately $180 million in the most recent reporting period. Furthermore, Bitcoin currently trades significantly below the average entry price for spot Bitcoin ETF investors, which Citigroup estimates at approximately $81,600, creating potential pressure as institutional investors face unrealized losses.
Beyond market technicals, Citigroup's analysis emphasizes the substantial impact of regulatory developments. The delayed passage of the Crypto Market Structure Bill (CLARITY) in the United States Congress has created significant uncertainty for institutional participants. Additionally, concerns about the Federal Reserve's ongoing balance sheet reduction program (quantitative tightening) compound these worries, as decreasing overall market liquidity typically creates headwinds for risk assets like cryptocurrencies.
Citigroup's report also provides insightful analysis regarding Bitcoin's evolving relationship with traditional safe-haven assets like gold. While gold has rallied amid geopolitical tensions, Bitcoin has shown greater sensitivity to liquidity conditions and broader risk-off sentiment, highlighting its current transitional phase between speculative digital asset and established value preservation instrument.
