Bitcoin Giant Strategy’s Buying Pace Falls 91% Amid STRC Cooldown

Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings expanded at a slower pace last week as the company leaned on proceeds from common shares to notch its latest purchase.

A week after Strategy scooped up 34,164 Bitcoin for $2.54 billion, the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm announced that it had purchased 3,273 Bitcoin for $255 million. That represented a 91% decline in terms of cash spent on the digital asset.

Despite the smaller purchase, Strategy owned 818,334 Bitcoin on Monday. With the digital asset changing hands around $77,800, its stockpile was worth $63.6 billion, according to CoinGecko. In total, Strategy issued 1.4 million common shares last week.

Strategy’s latest disclosure underscored how its variable-rate preferred share, STRC, has emerged as a pivotal driver for its business. Not long after the firm raised massive amounts via the dividend-paying product, Strategy reported its largest purchase in 16 months.

The product that currently pays 11.5% in monthly dividends is designed to trade around the $100 mark. Following its ex-dividend date on April 14, STRC has traded below that threshold.

The company has indicated that it’s aware of how STRC’s monthly dividend cadence has made the size of its acquisitions somewhat cyclical. Not long ago, Strategy co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor highlighted a proposal to shift STRC toward semi-monthly dividends.

The company’s common shares were little changed on Monday at $171.36, according to Yahoo Finance. Meanwhile, STRC was valued at roughly $99.60 apiece.

At $63.6 billion, Strategy’s holdings showed a $1.8 billion gain on paper. As Bitcoin has rallied to its highest price since January, the company’s holdings have emerged from underwater. At times this year, the Bitcoin-buying firm’s bet has been billions of dollars underwater.

As Bitcoin has moved further up from Strategy’s average purchase price, Saylor’s social media presence has appeared to grow confident. Over the weekend, Saylor shared an AI-generated video of himself fighting a bear (in the style of “The Matrix” film series) in an X post. The week prior, the billionaire shared another image that depicted him lounging on a yacht.

Although Strategy’s reliance on STRC has saddled the company with ongoing costs, traders on Myriad—a prediction market owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan—have grown increasingly confident that the company won’t sell Bitcoin this year.

On Monday, they envisioned a 12% chance that Strategy will pare its leading corporate stockpile. A month ago, those traders saw an 18% chance of that happening.