Author: Nancy, PANews

Bitcoin quietly recorded eight consecutive days of gains amidst the smoke of war in the Middle East, with the world's largest Bitcoin trading platform, Strategy, adding fuel to the fire with real money.

Two weeks ago, Strategy (MicroStrategy) suddenly accelerated its investment, finally turning its Bitcoin position profitable. In just one week, it swept in over 20,000 Bitcoins, totaling over $1.57 billion. This amount exceeded the net inflow of Bitcoin ETFs during the same period.

Behind Strategy's powerful offensive, nearly half of its funding comes from perpetual preferred stock (STRC). This financing tool, which focuses on stable returns, successfully packages the highly volatile Bitcoin into a fixed-income instrument favored by traditional finance, continuously attracting funds from Wall Street and becoming Strategy's new growth flywheel.

Daily shopping volume exceeds 5 times the total output of the entire network; STRC becomes a new financing weapon.

Within just a few months of its launch, STRC has transformed from an innovative tool into a powerful fundraising weapon in Strategy's hands.

According to data from STRC.live, since its launch in July 2025, STRC has issued over 50.25 million units through 10 ATM (market price) issuances, injecting 50,792 Bitcoins into the Strategy vault in 8 months, corresponding to a fund size of approximately $4.74 billion.

In the past week in particular, STRC contributed approximately 22,000 bitcoins, accounting for 43.5% of the total increase during that period, corresponding to 54.8% of Strategy's increase during the same period. Specifically, on March 9, it contributed 5,315 bitcoins to purchase, equivalent to 1.7 times the total mining output of the entire network during the same period; on March 16, it reached 16,816 bitcoins, equivalent to 5.3 times the total network output.

In fact, demand for STRC has been rising during the period when Bitcoin prices have been consolidating or even correcting this year.

As of March 18, the market capitalization of STRC exceeded $5.02 billion, an increase of $2.08 billion from the end of last year, representing a growth rate of 58.5%. From a trading perspective, STRC's daily trading volume surged rapidly after the start of March, exceeding $740 million on one particular day. From March 9 to 13 alone, STRC's cumulative trading volume reached $2.3 billion, with approximately 86% of trades priced above $100.

STRC's performance far surpasses other similar products. BitcoinQuant data shows that in the past 30 days, STRC's trading volume has exceeded $150 million, significantly higher than products such as STRK, SATA, and STRF; its weekly trading volume share has also climbed from a low of 37.5% to 88.5%.

Strategy CEO Michael Saylor recently stated that STRC is currently the most liquid preferred stock on the market. Strategy Head Chaitanya Jain further admitted that STRC and MSTR together will constitute the "ultimate Bitcoin accumulation machine."

This model has also attracted DAT (crypto treasury) companies and traditional financial institutions to "get on board," including DAT companies such as Strive, Prevalon Energy, Anchorage Digital, and OranjeBTC, as well as funds under BlackRock, Fidelity, Virtus InfraCap, and John Hancock, all of which have allocated to STRC.

From premium arbitrage to a profit game, Strategy's dual ATM magic.

The rise of STRC is essentially due to Strategy repackaging Bitcoin as a fixed-income instrument that aligns more closely with traditional financial preferences.

This product, already listed on Nasdaq, can be traded directly through major brokerages. Unlike common stock MSTR, STRC is a floating-rate perpetual preferred stock, with its core design goal being to maintain a stable value around $100.

The implementation is not complicated; it involves dynamically adjusting the dividend yield monthly to anchor the price. Specifically, when the STRC price is above or equal to $100, Strategy initiates an ATM issuance, selling new shares and buying Bitcoin; when the price falls below $100, it increases the dividend to enhance attractiveness and pull the price back to near par value.

This mechanism significantly reduces volatility. Official data shows that STRC's historical volatility is about 14%, while it has only been 1.5% in the last 30 days, which is significantly milder than Bitcoin or MSTR.

At the same time, monthly cash dividends are one of the biggest selling points of STRC, making it particularly suitable for investors who need stable returns.

To enhance the attractiveness of STRC, Strategy has made eight dividend adjustments to date, raising the annualized yield from 9.6% to 11.5%. Compared to traditional high-yield assets such as high-yield bonds, deposits, and money market funds, which generally offer yields of around 4% to 6%, STRC's fixed-income returns are more competitive.

These characteristics make STRC more attractive to investors. For most traditional funds, Bitcoin is too volatile, lacks cash flow, and doesn't fit their asset allocation framework; while MSTR combines premium and leverage, offering higher return potential, but also amplifying the risks. Previously, several US public pension funds experienced significant paper losses due to their holdings of MSTR.

In contrast, STRC offers a more acceptable compromise, providing both Bitcoin as the underlying logic and a price anchor close to par value, while also offering stable and predictable monthly cash flow. Furthermore, the preferred stock structure's priority in liquidation over common stock provides a certain safety margin for the funds.

The launch of STRC also reflects a change in Strategy's financing logic.

With the MSTR premium narrowing, the Bitcoin flywheel model driven solely by issuing common stock has encountered its limitations. Strategy had even previously pledged not to issue more common stock when mNAV fell below 2.5 times.

STRC has become Strategy's "new magic trick" for maintaining Bitcoin's accumulation speed during bear markets. However, problems arise as preferred stock implies rigid dividend payments. Expanding the size of STRC alone would directly increase leverage.

To this end, Strategy employs a dual-ATM strategy: one is high-volatility but high-potential common stock, and the other is stable, high-yield preferred stock. By simultaneously issuing STRC and MSTR, it raises funds to buy Bitcoin while replenishing equity capital, thereby expanding its asset size while controlling leverage. As this financing mechanism continues to operate, STRC continuously absorbs liquidity from the fixed-income market, giving Strategy a sustained buying base relatively independent of the crypto cycle.

However, high dividends come at a cost. The most recent STRC issuance alone added approximately $135 million to the annual dividend burden, bringing Strategy's current annual dividend payout to over $1.08 billion. Although Strategy has set aside approximately $2.25 billion in cash reserves, enough to cover dividend needs for at least two more years, the pressure is still considerable.

If Bitcoin prices stagnate for an extended period, and STRC continues to need to constantly increase its yield to maintain its attractiveness, then financing costs will continue to rise, and its potential for growth will be gradually squeezed. Strategy's repeated increases in STRC dividends already indicate a trend towards continuously increasing incentives.

However, STRC will not experience a flash crash like UST. It lacks on-chain automatic liquidation, flash loan runs, or instant redemption mechanisms; essentially, it remains a traditional credit product issued by Strategy, with all adjustments (such as increasing dividends or delaying payments) actively controlled by the company. Furthermore, its underlying support is Bitcoin, not an infinitely dilutionable token. This means that even in extreme circumstances, its risk is more likely to manifest as a slow, gradual drain on liquidity.

Overall, STRC has successfully opened a channel to transform traditional fixed-income capital into Bitcoin spot demand. Although the sustainability of the high-interest model remains to be seen, this new flywheel has already begun to turn.

Arizona State Retirement Fund holds $10 million worth of Strategy stock.

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