Strategy, the listed company that holds the most bitcoin (a U.S. firm co-founded by Michael Saylor, holding 846,000 bitcoin), put forward a proposal on Sept. 24 to pay dividends on its preferred stock every day. The main target is STRC, a preferred stock that pays a 12% annual dividend. Shareholders will vote at a meeting on Oct. 28. Strategy is the biggest buyer to have piled up bitcoin, so the state of its money pipeline is tied directly to the buying power behind bitcoin.
At first glance it looks like a nicer perk for shareholders. The dividend rate and the total paid over a year stay the same. But the real story is elsewhere. STRC was the biggest pipeline Strategy used to buy bitcoin, and its filings show no new money has come through that pipeline since May 17.
- STRC was a machine for buying bitcoin
STRC is a preferred stock with no maturity date (a share that gets dividends before common stock, but gives little say in running the company). Its reference price is $100 a share. Strategy sold new shares of it little by little on the stock market at around $100 (an at-the-market, or ATM, sale) and used the cash to buy bitcoin.
According to its filings, Strategy sold $1.952 billion of STRC in the single week of May 11-17. That same week it bought 24,869 bitcoin for $2.01 billion. The machine only runs when STRC sells at around $100.
- Below $100, the machine stopped
STRC has stayed below $100 since May. In June, when bitcoin plunged, it briefly fell below $75, and on Sept. 25 it was still around $98.65.
When a used item is cheaper than the sticker price, nobody buys it new. No one will pay the company $100 for a new STRC share they can buy on the market for $98. And if the company sold at $98.65, it would still owe a $12 dividend based on $100, so by simple math its cost of raising money rises to 12.2% a year.
Sure enough, the STRC amount still available for sale in its filings stayed at $17.5108 billion from May 17 to Aug. 30 without shrinking once. From Aug. 31 to Sept. 20, it sold no new shares at all.
- The money went to buying back STRC instead of bitcoin
Strategy rolled out one fix after another to push the price back to $100. It raised the dividend rate from 11.5% to 12% a year, and in June it switched dividends from once a month to twice a month. It also set up a plan to buy back up to $2 billion of STRC on the market (the preferred-stock version of a share buyback).
Then the money changed direction. In the seven weeks from Aug. 3 to Sept. 20, it spent $1.0186 billion buying back STRC and $445.4 million buying bitcoin. The buybacks were paid for by selling new common stock or from cash on hand, and in Aug. 3-9 it sold 1,690 bitcoin to buy back STRC. Even so, STRC did not return to $100.
- How much has the money for bitcoin shrunk?
Its bitcoin holdings rose from 843,738 on May 17 to 846,000 on Sept. 20, an increase of 2,262 in four months. That is less than a tenth of the 24,869 it bought in a single week in May.
It did raise money by selling common stock. From Aug. 10 to 23 it raised $2.3402 billion from common shares, but that money went to dividends, reserves, cash savings and STRC buybacks, and not a single bitcoin was bought. Its free-to-use cash (USD Cash) fell from $1.61 billion on Aug. 30 to $1.05 billion on Sept. 20.
The money going out for dividends and interest is large, too. In the single week of Sept. 14-20, $57.4 million left its reserve. From June 29 to July 5, it even sold 3,588 bitcoin ($216 million) to cover preferred dividends.
- Why 'daily' of all things?
In its shareholder meeting documents, the company explained that paying dividends more often cuts the wait between receiving a dividend and reinvesting it, and shrinks price swings around dividend dates. The dividend that builds up before a payout is part of the price and drops out on the payment date; paying daily keeps that swing small. It also stated the goals of keeping STRC's price close to $100 and raising money more easily through preferred stock to buy bitcoin.
There is a rival, too. CoinDesk named Strive's preferred stock SATA (Strive is another U.S.-listed company that accumulates bitcoin) as the main reason STRC has struggled. SATA pays a 13% annual dividend every business day and is holding near $100.
The vote is decided by a majority of common-stock voting power, and preferred shareholders cannot vote. If approved, STRC will pay its first daily dividend on Nov. 2. Daily dividends would be the second change to STRC's payout schedule in less than three months.
- BITPRESS Insight
The market usually asks whether Strategy bought bitcoin this week. But the wallet of the biggest bitcoin buyer shows up first in STRC's price. Only when STRC stands above $100 do new STRC shares sell and that money flows into bitcoin. Below $100, money flows the other way, into STRC buybacks.
Daily dividends are the fourth fix aimed at restarting that pipeline. $100 is the line that three earlier fixes (a higher dividend rate, twice-monthly payments and $2 billion of buybacks) failed to cross.
The rule fits in one line: a company that raises new money easily does not change how it pays dividends twice in three months. While STRC sits below $100, Strategy will struggle to be a big bitcoin buyer.
Sources
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/09/25/strategy-proposes-daily-dividends-to-bring-strc-back-toward-usd100
https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-09-25-strategy-proposes-daily-dividends-for-strc-strd-strf-and-strk-preferred-stocks-416869
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/strategy-proposes-daily-dividends-preferred-125134175.html
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312526401636/mstr-20260924.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312526401630/d503578dpre14a.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312526227918/mstr-20260504.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001050446/000119312526295586/mstr-20260706.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312526341297/mstr-20260810.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001050446/000119312526353240/mstr-20260817.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001050446/000119312526361845/mstr-20260824.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001050446/000119312526375463/mstr-20260831.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001050446/000119312526384402/mstr-20260831.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001050446/000119312526389858/mstr-20260914.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001050446/000119312526396093/mstr-20260914.htm
https://decrypt.co/368170/strategy-preferred-stock-issuance-2-billion-bitcoin-buy
https://247wallst.com/investing/cryptocurrency/2026/09/09/strategy-put-176-3-million-into-its-own-preferred-stock-instead-of-bitcoin-with-its-last-btc-purchase-already-underwater/
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/07/06/michael-saylor-s-strategy-dramatically-ups-pace-of-bitcoin-sales-raising-usd216-million
Glossary
Preferred shares — A share that gets dividends before common stock, but gives little say in running the company.
Stated value (par value) — The reference amount set for a share; STRC's is $100 a share, and dividends are calculated on it.
ATM (at-the-market) sale — A way for a company to sell new shares little by little on the stock market at that day's price, instead of all at once.
Share buyback — A company buying its own shares on the market; here it was used to prop up the preferred stock's price.
USD Reserve — A pool of dollars Strategy set aside to pay preferred dividends and interest on its debt.
BITPRESS articles are information to help your investment decisions, not a recommendation to buy or sell any stock or coin. Investment decisions and their results are your own responsibility.
