Strategy (MSTR) is pulling off some form of financial alchemy: using bitcoin, historically a volatile asset, to create something that looks a lot like stability.
That’s the firm’s $2 billion “Stretch” Preferred Stock (STRC) offering offers a variable 9% dividend and is designed to keep the share price hovering near $100.
The offering doesn’t give investors direct bitcoin exposure, yet it's backed by the asset in spirit and structure, according to a recent NYDIG report.
Strategy holds $71.7 billion in bitcoin and just $11 billion in liabilities, giving it room to deliver income even if crypto prices dip, the report notes.
Historically, bitcoin has returned at least 3%–4% annually over any five-year stretch, while average returns have been significantly higher.
Strategy is betting it can use this return profile to sustain high payouts without touching its crypto stash, essentially turning long-term bitcoin appreciation into monthly cash flow.
“STRC looks to us like a high-yield, bitcoin-backed, money-market-style vehicle, designed to trade near $100 par while offering a far higher yield than traditional short-term instruments, albeit with a different liquidity profile,” NYDIG wrote.
That premise has proven popular. Investor interest drove Strategy to quadruple the offering size from $500 million to $2 billion.
STRC may not just be a yield vehicle, but rather bitcoin, reworked for traditional finance income investors. A kind of money-market fund, remixed with crypto under the hood.
Read more: Michael Saylor Builds Out Own Yield Curve With Upsized Preferred Stock Sale