Strategy repurchases $176 million in STRC shares, pauses Bitcoin buys

Shift in capital allocation

Between August 31 and September 7, Strategy bought back a large portion of its STRC preferred stock. The move coincides with a company decision to double its Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program ceiling to $2 billion. Despite the pause, the company’s Bitcoin holdings remain at 845,050 BTC, valued at a total purchase amount of $63.6 billion with an average acquisition cost of $75,412 per Bitcoin.

Last week, Strategy purchased $370 million in Bitcoin—their first such transaction since mid-June—demonstrating its continued interest in digital assets despite the recent pause.

Market impact and STRC’s role

STRC, Strategy’s primary investment vehicle for financing Bitcoin accumulation, traded mostly flat before the market opened on Tuesday, holding at $97.70 per share. This price reflects a 2.3% discount from the $100 intended par value. Meanwhile, the company’s common stock, MSTR, listed on Nasdaq, had dropped over 3% at the latest reading from Yahoo Finance.

When STRC trades below par value, Strategy’s options for raising funds through STRC sales become limited. This challenge could prompt the company to further increase the dividend rate tied to these preferred shares.

In late June, Strategy introduced a capital framework permitting the sale of Bitcoin to finance dividend payments and increased the annual dividend rate for its STRC preferred stock to 12%.

Mini dictionary: STRC, or Strategy Preferred Stock, is a class of shares issued by Strategy to raise capital, often with a fixed dividend and preferential claims over common stock in dividend distributions.

Other institutional Bitcoin purchases

While Strategy took a break from Bitcoin buys, other major corporate investors increased their holdings. Strive, recognized as the fifth-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, added 1,375 BTC for $109 million at an average price of $79,281 per coin. This brought Strive’s total reserves to 24,531 Bitcoin. Strive CEO Matt Cole disclosed the transaction on Monday.

Before markets opened on Tuesday, Strive’s Nasdaq-listed ASST shares declined by more than 2.5%, following strong gains earlier in the month.

Meanwhile, Capital B, a French company listed on Euronext Paris and holding public Bitcoin reserves, purchased $25 million worth of Bitcoin on Monday. This marks Capital B’s largest Bitcoin buy in nearly a year, pushing it ahead of H100 Group in the ranking of publicly traded BTC reserves.

Mini dictionary: Capital B is a France-based publicly traded company with significant holdings in Bitcoin, contributing to its position among the largest European corporate Bitcoin treasuries.