Monday saw Strategy announcing its most significant Bitcoin acquisition in nearly 16 months, with a purchase valued at $2.54 billion last week driven by traders purchasing its dividend-paying preferred share to secure an upcoming payout.
Based in Tysons Corner, Virginia, the firm acquired approximately 34,200 Bitcoin, increasing its total holdings to around 815,000 units. With Bitcoin trading near $75,400, CoinGecko estimates the value of these holdings at approximately $61.4 billion.
Strategy issued nearly $2.2 billion worth of STRC, a preferred share that offers an 11.5% monthly dividend and aims to trade around the $100 mark. The ex-dividend date for STRC passed last Wednesday, marking when new buyers would no longer be eligible for the next scheduled payment. In the lead-up, STRC consistently traded at or above this benchmark for ten consecutive days, reflecting strong demand for the preferred share now valued at $8.5 billion.
Andy Constan, a former skeptic of Strategy and founder of Damped Spring Advisors, speculated that dividend-capture traders fueled STRC’s increased demand, buying stocks shortly before the ex-dividend date to sell soon after capturing the dividend. In an X post last week, he noted: “Dudes I know were all in [STRC] leveraged long last night and have never done a div capture trade in their life.”
Before Monday’s market opening, Strategy’s stock dipped 2% to $163 according to Yahoo Finance. By Friday, the shares had risen nearly 12% to $166, marking the first instance of paper profits for the firm’s leading Bitcoin stockpile in months.
On Myriad, a prediction market associated with Decrypt parent company Dastan, traders predicted a 13% likelihood that Strategy might reduce its holdings this year. On February 1st, amid a downturn when holdings were underwater, there was a 31% forecasted chance of Strategy liquidating some assets.
In an X post over the weekend, Strategy co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor encouraged followers to “Think Even Bigger,” suggesting the scale of the recent purchase. A day prior, he referenced Middle Eastern tensions, asserting that it’s “impossible to blockade Bitcoin.”
Following last week’s ex-dividend date for STRC, Strategy proposed semi-monthly dividends for its preferred shares, with Saylor noting in an X post: “These proposed changes are intended to stabilize price, dampen cyclicality, drive liquidity, and grow demand.”
The latest acquisition marks Strategy’s largest since November 2024. Days earlier, the firm revealed it had sold $3 billion worth of convertible bonds maturing in 2029, which allow bondholders to convert their holdings into common shares if they hit a price of $672.40 each.