STRC return to par is Samson Mow’s base case, and the Jan3 CEO is pointing to Strive’s SATA preferred shares as the leading indicator. SATA has recovered nearly 16% from its June low to about $97, sitting within roughly 3% of its $100 target, and Mow argues the move is pulling the sentiment around Bitcoin-linked preferred stock back from the brink.
STRC, meanwhile, closed at $86.89 on 24 July after a 2.29% session gain, rising to $87.14 in after-hours trading. That still puts it 13.11% below par, a discount that directly compresses Strategy’s ability to raise capital from fresh STRC issuance.
How the variable-rate structure is supposed to work
Both SATA and STRC are variable-rate perpetual preferred shares engineered to trade around a $100 stated value. Strategy’s original STRC prospectus set the public offering price at $90.00 per share, with a stated amount and initial liquidation preference of $100 per share, across 28,011,111 shares.
The rate adjustment mechanism has a deliberate asymmetry. Per Strategy’s 2026 follow-on prospectus, STRC’s dividend rate cannot be cut by more than 25 basis points per month (plus a SOFR-linked component), and no reduction is permitted while any past dividends remain unpaid. Rate increases carry no such cap, giving Strategy room to move quickly when it needs to attract buyers.
Strategy exercised that upside lever on 29 June 2026. An SEC Form 8-K disclosed that the regular annual dividend rate on STRC would rise to 12.00%, effective for semi-monthly periods with record dates on or after 1 July 2026, with declared cash dividends of $0.50 per share for the periods ending 31 July and 15 August 2026. The Strategy investor page describes the monthly rate adjustment as designed to strip away price volatility and keep STRC near par.
Strive launched SATA in November 2025 under a comparable model. The SATA IPO priced at $80 per share on 5 November 2025, covering 2,000,000 shares after an upsizing of 750,000 shares over the amount originally announced, with settlement on 10 November 2025. The variable dividend allows Strive to raise the payout when SATA trades below $100, making it more attractive, and trim it as the price recovers.
STRC’s discount and what it costs Strategy
Mow’s case rests on a straightforward piece of market logic. ‘I think every action that Strategy has undertaken to strengthen their balance sheet and encourage STRC to go back to par is also working,’ he told Cointelegraph. He links the two products explicitly: ‘as SATA returns to par, you’re going to see STRC return to par too, because people say, “OK, this model’s not broken.” Everyone is capitalized for three or more years of dividend payments… there was no reason to panic all along.’
The discount matters operationally. Strategy issues STRC to finance Bitcoin purchases, and each share sold at $87 raises less capital than one sold at or near $100. With Strategy holding 843,775 BTC and continuing to accumulate, the efficiency of that funding channel is not a cosmetic concern.
Institutional positioning has moved materially regardless of the discount. On 24 July, Michael Saylor disclosed that STRC is now the largest single holding in BlackRock’s iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF, Virtus InfraCap’s U.S. Preferred Stock ETF, and VanEck’s Preferred Securities ex Financials ETF. The three funds collectively hold $756 million of STRC. For context, CoinDesk reported that as of 16 January 2026, STRC was only the fourth-largest holding in BlackRock’s fund, with a $210 million allocation at a 1.47% weighting. The shift from fourth place at $210 million to the top position across three funds at a combined $756 million reflects how fast asset managers have rotated into the security, even as it continues to trade well below its stated value.
Strive, sitting seventh among corporate Bitcoin holders tracked by BitcoinTreasuries with 19,921 BTC, is a smaller operation with a different entry profile. Mow cited Lyn Alden’s Orange Juice treasury company, launched on 15 July, as an example of a newer entrant with a lower Bitcoin acquisition cost, suggesting the cohort of Bitcoin treasury companies is diversifying in structure and cost basis.
The binary from here is whether the 12.00% dividend rate, combined with SATA’s recovery to $97, is enough to compress STRC’s discount toward zero. If it does, Strategy regains a near-par issuance window for its next capital raise. If the gap holds, the funding economics of ‘digital credit’ face a harder test than a CT prediction can resolve.
