Is Bitcoin Dead? Saylor and the BTC Short Squeeze Say No

At that rate, he notes, US$10,000 becomes US$1.9m, against roughly US$67,000 from the stock market's long-run average.

His larger argument is that Bitcoin should never bend to suit institutions, and that the financial system should reshape itself around Bitcoin instead.

Banks, insurers and governments can build credit and yield products on top of it, he says, without ever touching the protocol.

The catch beneath the rally

The believers' problem is that the same leverage cuts both ways. Strategy is, in the words of one analyst, a "leveraged Bitcoin proxy", and when Bitcoin fell earlier in the year it fell hard.

The company booked a US$8.3bn unrealised loss on its Bitcoin in the second quarter, tipping it to a US$8.2bn net loss, and its shares are still down 63% over 52 weeks even after this month's surge.

Wall Street remains loyal all the same. Of 19 analysts, 16 rate the stock a strong buy, though several have trimmed their price targets.

The rally is real, but so is the volatility, and whether this is a durable recovery or another violent bounce is the one thing the short squeeze cannot settle.