STRC recovery is now the explicit gating condition for Strategy’s next Bitcoin purchase, CEO Phong Le confirmed in a Bloomberg interview, with the preferred stock trading around $87 against its $100 liquidation preference.
‘We’ll continue to build that. And yeah, when Stretch gets back to par, we’ll issue more. We’ll buy more Bitcoin,’ Le said, using the informal name for STRC. He gave no timeline for that recovery.
The context behind that statement is less comfortable than the headline. Strategy has just completed what Trending Topics EU describes as its largest Bitcoin sale in company history and only its third ever: 3,588 BTC sold for approximately $216 million across two weeks, both tranches executed at prices well below its own cost basis.
Two tranches, both below cost
According to Strategy’s 8-K filed with the SEC, the first tranche covered 1,363 BTC sold on 29–30 June at an average of $59,256 per BTC, generating roughly $81 million. The second tranche covered 2,225 BTC sold 1–5 July at an average of $60,773 per BTC, generating roughly $135 million.
Strategy’s average acquisition cost, per the same filing as of 5 July 2026, stands at $75,476 per BTC against an aggregate cost basis of $63.69 billion. Both sale tranches were therefore executed at a discount of roughly 20% to what Strategy paid for its stack.
The SEC filing also confirms that Strategy did not sell any shares under its at-the-market offering programme during this period, and made no share repurchases. The BTC sales were the only capital activity.
The motivation was liquidity pressure from preferred shareholders. Le told Bloomberg that holders of STRC had pressed the company to maintain more dollar reserves after the stock fell below $75 in late June. The dollar reserve stood at $2.55 billion as of 5 July per the 8-K, as reported by Crowdfund Insider. Bloomberg reported on 14–15 July that the reserve had subsequently risen to $3 billion following additional MSTR share sales, which also allowed the company to halt Bitcoin sales between 6 and 12 July.
There is also a tax complication. Per the 8-K, as of 30 June 2026 Strategy’s Bitcoin cost basis exceeded the fair value of its holdings, triggering a valuation allowance against the deferred tax asset associated with the unrealised loss. That allowance offsets the deferred tax benefit in full for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
STRC mechanics and the STRC recovery Bitcoin purchase loop
STRC’s structure is designed to keep it close to par. Per Strategy’s own STRC pricing press release, the company intends to adjust the monthly dividend rate to maintain STRC’s trading price at or close to $100. Dividends are payable solely in cash. The 8-K establishing STRC confirms the liquidation preference at $100 per share, with STRC ranking senior to STRK, STRF, and both share classes of common stock.
The capital-raising logic is circular in an uncomfortable way when STRC trades below par. Strategy issues new preferred shares and uses the proceeds to buy Bitcoin. Issuing below $100 compresses the Bitcoin exposure per share of equity and makes the arbitrage less attractive to institutional buyers. Until STRC recovers, that issuance channel is effectively closed.
Executive chairman Michael Saylor has separately framed MSTR, STRC, and STRF as offering differentiated Bitcoin exposure: MSTR matching IBIT’s exposure, STRC delivering 3.6 times as much, and STRF offering 11 times. Strategy’s total holdings of 843,775 BTC remain ahead of BlackRock’s IBIT at 733,516 BTC, and represent more than 4% of all Bitcoin that will ever exist.
Strategy also launched a euro-denominated perpetual preferred, Stream (STRE), offering a fixed 10% dividend at €100 par for the European market, per an OTC Markets FWP filing.
Against that backdrop, Strategy’s Q2 2025 results recorded a BTC $ Gain of $9.5 billion for the quarter and $13.2 billion year-to-date, against a full-year 2025 target of $20 billion. The gap between that target and the mechanics of a below-par preferred stock illustrates the bind: the fundraising engine that powers Bitcoin accumulation runs most efficiently when STRC is at or above $100.
MSTR fell 3.65% to $93.91 on 16 July as Bitcoin traded around $64,800. The daily RSI stood at 39.16, and the MACD histogram turned positive at 2.17, though both MACD lines remain below zero. A close below $90 would put the recent channel breakout at risk; a move through $100–$105 would open the path toward $115–$120, and likely reopen the conversation about issuing more STRC.
