Without knowing the details, Microstrategy stock, and especially their bonds, look like an overly complicated way of gambling on bitcoin.
My guess is that a high degree of complicatedness of a bet can make it very compelling to certain types of gamblers because the process of learning how the bet works makes one feel like they have an advantage. But how that results in Microstrategy stock (total market capitalization) selling for around 3x the value of their bitcoin holdings is a mystery to me.
I agree that it is likely an indirect Bitcoin bet. It can be attracting investors prohibited from holding Bitcoin directly by regulations (pension funds, VCs, etc).
I also agree with your assessment of tricking people with an imagined advantage based on knowing the gamble mechanics. It’s a human cognitive fallacy. Knowing != good at.
There's no trick. The real trick is fiat's lack of proof-of-work, which is what Microstrategy's exploiting.
There is an enormous amount of money in the market that is prevented from buying/speculating on bitcoin and MSTR is the pathway for them to do this that has many advantages over an ETF. Once you understand bitcoin enough to know that the risk is very small and the reward enormous, with a finite supply (first liquid asset in the history of mankind with this quality), Gresham's law kicks in.
My guess is that a high degree of complicatedness of a bet can make it very compelling to certain types of gamblers because the process of learning how the bet works makes one feel like they have an advantage. But how that results in Microstrategy stock (total market capitalization) selling for around 3x the value of their bitcoin holdings is a mystery to me.