Bitcoin held in self-custody has no counterparty. That is not a feature. It is the point.
No institution can freeze it, dilute it, or lend it out without your knowledge. The risk of someone else’s bad decisions does not touch it. You hold the keys. The exposure stops there.
Michael Saylor built a business on a different idea. Borrow against Bitcoin, pay interest, accumulate more, never sell. Strike just made the same structure available to small businesses — Bitcoin-collateralized line of credit, keep the Bitcoin, spend the credit line. The pitch is that you stay exposed to Bitcoin upside without selling.
What you also do is hand a claim on your Bitcoin to a counterparty. Their solvency is now your problem. Their terms govern the relationship. Their margin call, if it comes, arrives on their schedule.
That is counterparty risk. Bitcoin offered a way to eliminate it. Leverage brings it back.