Strategy Buys 22,300 BTC for $2.1B as Bitcoin Slips—STRC Funding Model Takes Center Stage

Bitcoin cooled as macro headlines weighed on risk—after threats of tariffs on European nations tied to a renewed U.S. push for Greenland, BTC slid from ~$95,000 and now hovers around the $90,000 area, down about 2% on the week after tagging $97,500. Strategy used that softness to add 22,300 BTC for $2.1 billion, its largest purchase in more than nine months. Shares traded near $161, off more than 7% versus Friday and down over 60% in six months.

The purchase matters less for its size than for its financing. Strategy funded roughly 77% via common equity issuance and nearly $300 million through preferred shares, including STRC. That hybrid approach is now the company’s core operating system: issue paper when markets allow, convert proceeds into Bitcoin, repeat. Last week, Strategy even deployed about $300,000 more than it raised and did not increase its USD Reserve, implying a willingness to lean on the balance sheet to maintain pace. The firm lists $2.2 billion in cash on its website.

STRC—short for “Short Duration High Yield Credit”—is designed to trade around $100 par with a variable-rate dividend currently at 11%, ranked senior to common equity. When the instrument trades above par, Strategy can sell more to keep it anchored near $100. That “par discipline” is clever: it frames STRC less like a volatile equity proxy and more like a cash-like, income product—an angle Executive Chairman Michael Saylor has pitched to yield-seeking investors, even positioning it as a superior alternative to savings accounts for retirees.

Here’s the crux: par management turns investor psychology into a funding feature. If STRC reliably hugs $100, it signals stability, widens the buyer base, and lowers the cost of capital. Saylor recently highlighted a print around $100.04 with a wry “probably nothing.” But when STRC slipped to $90.52 in November, the illusion of cash-like stability cracked. Below par, issuing becomes harder, dividends feel heavier, and the machine slows precisely when the company might want to be most aggressive. That is the reflexivity risk embedded in this model: Bitcoin drawdowns can pressure Strategy’s stock, nudge STRC below par, and tighten financing just as conviction is tested.

The market sees that optionality. On the Myriad prediction market, traders attached a 24% chance that Strategy sells BTC this year—modest, but not trivial. It suggests participants think a non-zero probability exists that funding conditions or dividend obligations could force a pivot. Strategy tried to front-run those concerns last year by stockpiling cash to service preferred dividends, which helps, but the model still depends on keeping STRC orderly, the equity bid alive, and Bitcoin not collapsing for long.

This is not happening in a vacuum. Strive launched a similar preferred, SATA, in December. CEO Matt Cole said the firm has accumulated 12,800 BTC since inception, worth about $1.1 billion, and flagged “insatiable demand for digital credit.” The trend is clear: listed, yield-bearing corporate credit feeding Bitcoin acquisition strategies. It’s novel corporate finance—using high-yield, short-duration paper to bootstrap a BTC treasury—blurring lines between operating company and externally financed Bitcoin ETF.

My view: Strategy is trying to industrialize a reflexive loop where capital structure engineering begets cheaper funding, which begets more Bitcoin, which—over time—could validate the equity and the preferred. It can work when BTC is firm and STRC hugs par. The true test is stress: if BTC retests lower levels, watch three gauges—STRC’s distance from $100, dividend reset dynamics versus market yields, and issuance cadence. If those hold, the flywheel keeps spinning. If not, the market will quickly price the risk that the company has to slow buys or tap its USD Reserve—and that 24% probability will not stay static.