Strategy Taps Preferred Shares to Fund $2B Bitcoin Buy as STRC Stays Near Par

Strategy just turned its capital markets flywheel again. By leaning on its dividend-paying Stretch (STRC) preferred stock, the Tysons Corner firm raised nearly $2 billion last week and deployed it into 24,869 Bitcoin—its largest add in about a month. The purchase cost $2 billion and brings total holdings to 843,738 BTC, recently marked at $64.4 billion.

Here’s the core mechanic that matters: STRC is designed to trade around a $100 par value and currently offers an 11.5% annual dividend. Ahead of last Friday’s ex-dividend date—when investors had to own shares to capture the next monthly cash payout—demand firmed and the security hovered near par for five straight sessions. With pricing stability and appetite in place, issuance accelerated. On Monday, STRC changed hands at $99.29 after touching $99.02 the prior session. Management is now seeking to shift STRC to a bimonthly dividend schedule, which could smooth issuance cadence and reduce single-date crowding.

This playbook is becoming familiar. The last time Strategy bought a similar amount of Bitcoin, it had just raised roughly $2.2 billion via STRC. Earlier this year, when Bitcoin fell to an 18‑month low, the company’s reliance on this instrument drew scrutiny. Yet the latest raise-and-deploy sequence suggests the program is now operating as a routine funding valve tied to the dividend clock.

The equity tape was mixed. Strategy’s common shares last traded at $163.58, down more than 7% on the day, but up nearly 2% over the past month—beating Bitcoin’s 0.4% gain over the same period. Bitcoin itself sits at $76,361, off more than 2% in 24 hours, after reaching $82,500 earlier this month—its highest level since February’s double-digit drawdown.

Management’s internal yardstick points to scale advantages. CEO Phong Lee reported a year-to-date “BTC Gain” of $6.6 billion—measuring incremental Bitcoin acquired relative to dilution from new share issuance. In fiscal 2025, the firm recorded a BTC Gain of 101,873 BTC, recently valued at $7.8 billion. Lee has emphasized that “digital credit” is enabling faster growth in 2026 than in 2025.

The single idea to focus on: STRC as programmable “digital credit.” Anchoring the security near par with a predictable dividend builds a behavioral floor—income-seeking buyers often tolerate tighter spreads when the payout is in sight. That stabilizes the cost of capital around the coupon and unlocks issuance windows precisely when excess demand appears. In turn, Strategy transforms retail and institutional yield appetite into Bitcoin exposure at scale. It’s elegant, but not riskless. If BTC underperforms the effective funding cost (that 11.5% yield plus issuance frictions) for sustained periods, the flywheel can stall and preferred pricing may drift below par, shrinking capacity. A move to bimonthly dividends could diffuse ex-dividend spikes but may also dull the urgency that helps keep STRC pinned.

There’s also a narrative hazard around BTC Gain. The metric encourages a focus on net coin accumulation rather than GAAP results, which can be useful for a Bitcoin-first treasury but can mask the long-term equity tradeoff if issuance outpaces asset performance. Investors have to underwrite that this structure works best when Bitcoin’s volatility is a feature—not a bug—because it frequently creates issuance windows while the asset’s longer-term drift outpaces the coupon.

For now, the market is validating the loop: STRC hovered near $100 into the record date, issuance surged, Bitcoin was purchased, and the treasury stack expanded—again.