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Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of Strategy Inc. (Nasdaq: MSTR), published a Nov. 7 essay tracing the company’s income-paying preferred stock, Stretch, traded as STRC, back through four centuries of financial history, Bitcoin.com News reported. The security pairs preferred-share payouts with the company’s bitcoin reserves.
Saylor’s post landed days after an amendment effective Nov. 1 changed how STRC dividends accrue. Bitcoin.com News reported that the revised schedule introduced daily accrual including weekends and holidays, with calendar-day record dates and cash processed on business days. Blockonomi reported that the company held the annualized dividend rate at 12% for November to keep the shares trading near their $100 stated amount.
Also read: Strategy's STRC Preferred Tops $100 for First Time Since May
Key facts
- The initial STRC offering closed in July 2025 and raised approximately $2.521 billion before expenses, funding 21,021 bitcoins.
- Saylor’s essay linked the model to the Dutch East India Company, chartered in 1602, and to Maryland’s 1836 financing of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
- During Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, Strategy repurchased $208.2 million of STRC and paid $43.4 million in preferred dividends from its designated reserve.
- As of Nov. 1, Strategy’s Nov. 2 filing put the designated dollar reserve at $4.79 billion, with separate cash of $132.7 million.
- Blockonomi reported that daily dividend schedules will extend to STRF, STRK and STRD from Jan. 1, 2027, with first payments on Jan. 4.
Preferred shares with no maturity date
STRC carries no scheduled maturity, and a board-set monthly dividend-rate policy was designed to encourage trading around its $100 stated amount. Preferred holders rank ahead of common shareholders for dividends and distributions in a wind-down, though creditors rank ahead of both, and the rights differ from holding bitcoin directly. The shares have no collateral claim on Strategy’s bitcoin, so payment capacity rests on the issuer’s resources.
Saylor placed the structure in a lineage that includes exchange trading, securities regulation, shelf registrations and at-the-market programs, which he described as financing foundations: new issuance brings capital in, while trading among existing holders transfers ownership. He also pointed to tax rules dating to 1921. A $12 distribution classified entirely as return of capital would cut the basis of a $100 investment to $88, producing a $12 gain on a later $100 sale before other adjustments.
Repurchases and reserve coverage differ between reports
Strategy disclosed $176 million in STRC repurchases in September and expanded its securities repurchase authorization to $2 billion; the figure reached $3 billion by its third-quarter 2026 results, followed by the $208.2 million of STRC buybacks in the Oct. 26-Nov. 1 week. Bitcoin.com News reported bitcoin sales for dividends and buybacks of roughly $431.8 million in 2026 through those results.
The two reports describe Strategy’s dollar cushion differently. Bitcoin.com News put the designated reserve at $4.79 billion and separate cash at $132.7 million as of Nov. 1. Blockonomi cited a $4.83 billion reserve plus $242.4 million in additional cash, for combined dollar assets of $5.07 billion in the Oct. 29 earnings report, covering about 3.4 years of dividend and interest obligations. Blockonomi also reported that Strategy held 848,517 BTC and, in October, bought 334 bitcoin using $15.7 million from common-stock sales and $13 million of existing cash.
On the company’s third-quarter call, Saylor estimated Strategy could create $10 billion, $20 billion or $30 billion in digital credit, per Blockonomi. That figure describes potential financing capacity rather than an announced raise.
Why it matters
Investors who want cash income tied to a bitcoin treasury now hold a preferred instrument rather than the asset itself, so their payouts depend on Strategy’s reserve management, repurchase activity and access to capital markets, not on bitcoin’s price alone. The buybacks show the company stepping in when the shares trade below stated value, a tool it lacked before the authorization expansions. Saylor framed the arrangement as an old financing idea applied to a newer reserve asset.
What to watch
The Jan. 1, 2027 start of daily dividend schedules for STRF, STRK and STRD, with first payments on Jan. 4, will show whether the model scales across Strategy’s other preferred series. Further STRC repurchase disclosures and reserve figures in the next results will indicate how long the dividend coverage holds.
Reported by Bitcoin.com News.
Sources: Bitcoin.com News, Blockonomi