NEW YORK, June 25, 2026, 11:04 EDT
- Strategy sold $335.5 million in common stock last week but spent just $34.9 million of that on bitcoin purchases.
- The latest cash injection took its USD reserve up to $1.4 billion, which Strategy says is equal to around 14 months of STRC dividends.
- MSTR dropped 5.7% in late morning trading in New York, while STRC changed hands at 21% under its $100 par level.
Strategy Inc NASDAQ:MSTR slipped Thursday after new market levels put more heat on Michael Saylor’s bitcoin play. Investors saw the latest equity deal less as a move to boost bitcoin holdings and more as an effort to shore up preferred stock dividends.
The company raised $335.5 million in net proceeds selling 2.7 million common shares between June 15 and June 21. It used $34.9 million from that to buy 520 bitcoin. Strategy said its USD reserve grew to $1.4 billion, factoring in expected ATM proceeds that hadn’t settled by June 21. About 10 cents of each dollar raised that week went into bitcoin. The rest, about 89 cents, went into the reserve.
STRC preferreds NASDAQ:STRC come with an 11.50% yearly dividend on $10.49 billion notional, Strategy says. That works out to around $1.21 billion in STRC cash dividends a year, just for this series. The company’s $1.4 billion reserve would fund those payments for about 14 months.
CryptoQuant’s head of research Julio Moreno is repeating the call: Strategy needs to stop buying bitcoin and boost its cash pile after annual dividend costs hit about $1.2 billion and cash reserves dropped 38% this year, The Block said. Moreno told The Block “a higher cash reserve is the most direct signal” the market wants on STRC. The Block
Stocks dropped before the debate settled. STRC slipped 2.8% to $78.61 at 10:49 a.m. EDT, well under the $100 price Strategy pegs for its dividend changes—down 21.4%. MSTR was off 5.7% to $88.78 at the same point after hitting $86.72 earlier. Bitcoin lost 2.8% and last traded at $59,195.
At that price for bitcoin, Strategy held 847,363 coins valued near $50.2 billion. The company has reported a total purchase cost of $64.10 billion in its most recent filing, putting the paper loss around $13.9 billion. Strategy’s market cap was about $29.6 billion.
The gap doesn’t mean the common stock is a straight value play on bitcoin. Preferred shares, debts, tax issues, and the software unit all come before common holders can touch the bitcoin reserve. Strategy says its preferreds aren’t backed by bitcoin and only get a preferred claim on leftovers if anything’s left.
Moreno told Bloomberg News on Wednesday that Strategy’s main focus should be rebuilding its dollar reserves instead of buying bitcoin each time funds come in. He said buying at tops and in bear markets has pushed up unrealized losses and left STRC with weaker fundamentals.
Strategy hasn’t announced an end to its purchases. The June 22 filing states the company “plans to continue replenishing” its USD reserve as market conditions allow, to back the credit quality of its digital credit securities. SEC
Bitcoin purchases could help the long-term story, but they draw down cash or equity. Building up reserves may help STRC, yet that slows bitcoin buying. Moreno said, “the path back to $100 is not straightforward.” The Block
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