Strategy is paying investors huge yields to keep buying Bitcoin amid 66,231 BTC spending spree

Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, has significantly accelerated its Bitcoin accumulation, acquiring 66,231 BTC in the first 68 days of 2026, bringing its total holdings to 738,731 BTC as of March 8. This rapid pace surpasses the company's net purchases for entire years in 2021, 2022, and 2023. A key shift in this strategy is the increasing reliance on its perpetual preferred stock, STRC, to finance these acquisitions, a departure from its previous primary reliance on common equity (MSTR) and convertible debt.

STRC Emerges as a Core Funding Rail

The company's common stock, MSTR, has historically traded at a premium to its net asset value (mNAV), enabling favorable capital raising. However, this premium has compressed significantly in the past year, leading Strategy to leverage its STRC preferred stock. STRC, launched in July of the previous year, carries an 11.50% annual dividend and is designed to trade near its $100 par value. This instrument has become a crucial component of Strategy's capital stack, moving beyond a supplemental role.

In the week ending March 8, Strategy sold approximately $377.1 million in STRC shares, representing about a third of its total at-the-market funding of $1.28 billion for that week. This occurred even as Bitcoin faced headwinds due to rising geopolitical tensions. Data indicates this trend has continued, with a record STRC issuance on March 9 alone estimated to fund the purchase of around 1,420 BTC. Since its inception, STRC has funded the acquisition of over 33,976 BTC, valued at more than $3.5 billion.

STRC has demonstrated remarkable performance, generating significantly higher volume and yield compared to traditional financial instruments like JPMorgan's perpetual preferred stock (JPM-PD). While JPM-PD offered an approximate 5.8% yield and $2 million in daily volume, STRC, with its 11.50% yield, generated around $213.5 million in volume. This strong demand has attracted institutional investors, including preferred-focused and income-oriented funds such as the BlackRock iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (PFF) and the Fidelity Capital & Income Fund (FAGIX). Additionally, Prevalon Energy and Anchorage Digital have allocated corporate treasury funds to STRC.

Operational Adjustments and Market Debate

To further enhance its capital-raising efficiency, Strategy amended its Omnibus Sales Agreement on March 9. This allows multiple agents to sell STRC securities simultaneously, including during pre-market and after-hours sessions, thereby increasing operational throughput and flexibility in converting investor demand into Bitcoin purchases.

The attractiveness of STRC to investors comes with a substantial cost for Strategy. With approximately $3.84 billion in STRC notional outstanding, the 11.50% annual dividend translates to roughly $442 million in annual cash obligations. Critics, such as Peter Schiff, argue that Strategy is incurring significant cash burn to maintain its Bitcoin accumulation pace, potentially forcing a choice between suspending the dividend or selling Bitcoin to meet payments. Short seller James Chanos has also challenged the classification of STRC as “digital credit,” asserting they are fiat-denominated credit instruments.

MSTR's Resilience Supports Strategy's Model

Despite these concerns, Strategy's common stock, MSTR, has shown resilience, outperforming Bitcoin year-to-date. As of the article's reporting, MSTR was down approximately 8.3%, while Bitcoin had fallen about 20%. This relative strength is crucial for Strategy's capital-raising capabilities, as a narrowing common-stock premium would increase pressure on preferred issuance to fund Bitcoin acquisitions.

Strategy continues to have substantial remaining at-the-market capacity across its securities, and the early months of 2026 indicate an aggressive deployment strategy. The long-term sustainability of the preferred stock model hinges on Bitcoin's future price performance and continued investor appetite for STRC's yield.