Debate Grows Over Strategy Using Bitcoin Sales to Fund STRC Buybacks

Strategy raised the dividend on its flagship preferred stock to 12% in late June, but the security is still changing hands well below the $100 price the company says it wants investors to see.

Key Takeaways

• Strategy hiked STRC’s dividend to 12% on June 29 while the stock traded near $87.
• Strategy authorized a $1 billion buyback with STRC as the initial priority target.
• Peter Schiff said STRC’s sub-$87 price signals Wall Street doubts Bitcoin’s growth pace.

STRC, Strategy’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, traded in the mid-to-high $80s this week, with some sessions dipping under $85. The stock has a 52-week range of roughly $71 to $100, and the gap between its market price and its stated par value has become one of the more debated topics on X in early July.

A New Framework, an Old Discount

Strategy unveiled a “Digital Credit Capital Framework” on June 29. The plan raised STRC’s annualized dividend to 12%, moved payouts to a semi-monthly schedule, and lifted the company’s USD Reserve to about $2.55 billion. That figure covers roughly 17.4 months of combined preferred dividend and interest obligations, according to the filing.

The company also authorized a $1 billion repurchase program covering its four preferred securities, STRC, STRF, STRD and STRK, with STRC named as the initial priority if buybacks are seen as accretive. Strategy disclosed that the purchases will not draw from the USD Reserve. Instead, funding could come from a separate $1.25 billion bitcoin monetization program approved alongside the buyback plan.

Strategy website showcasing STRC info on July 9, 2026. Executives framed the changes as a shift toward active management. CEO Phong Le said the company now has the flexibility to issue shares when conditions favor it and repurchase them when the math works in the other direction. CFO Andrew Kang described Bitcoin itself as capital that can now move to support the preferred stack.

Strategy set a goal for STRC to trade between $99 and $100 over time, but the company was direct about the limits of that goal. It said it cannot guarantee the range, and it clarified that a falling price alone does not trigger an automatic dividend increase.

Why the Price Has Not Moved

STRC launched in July 2025 at $90-$100 with a 9% dividend and was pitched as a self-correcting instrument, one that would drift back toward par through dividend adjustments and a market-based issuance program. That held up for months. Then, bitcoin’s weakness in 2026, combined with a large convertible debt repurchase that drew down cash, pushed STRC as low as the low $70s by late June.

The new framework addresses several of those concerns directly, yet the stock has not snapped back. Traders point to Bitcoin’s correlation with the preferred stock, lingering doubts about reserve durability, and competition from deeper-discount siblings like STRK and STRD, which some argue offer more value per dollar spent on a buyback.

The X Debate Over Buybacks

The disagreement playing out on X centers on one question: should Strategy use its new buyback authority aggressively to push STRC back toward par, or would that intervention do more harm than good. The conversation has grown more vivid since Strategy’s sale of more than 3,000 bitcoin.

Options trader BTC Optioneer argued the company’s original bet on natural demand has not paid off. STRC buybacks, the account wrote, can get the price back to $100 and restore investor confidence, which in turn could draw in arbitrage traders willing to buy the dips.

The X account Bitpaine pushed back hard against that logic in a widely shared thread. The account argued there is no real requirement for STRC to sit at exactly $100, and that forcing the price there through buybacks removes the price discovery that made the design credible in the first place. Bitpaine suggested a wider band, something closer to $90 to $110, would let the market set an effective yield faster than dividend changes can, while making it riskier to short the stock since the downside would not be capped.

Peter Schiff took a more skeptical line on the broader thesis behind the product. He said Wall Street’s own pricing tells the real story. If big banks believed Bitcoin would climb at the rate Strategy needs, STRC would already be near par instead of trading under $87. Schiff wrote:

“Wall Street refuses to put its money where its mouth is. Despite outlandish price targets for Bitcoin, big banks don’t even believe Bitcoin will rise 12% per year. If they did, STRC would be trading near $100. Instead, it’s under $87, pricing in substantial dividend-cut risk.”

Analyst Derin Olenik listed the moves Strategy has made: the coverage increase, the dividend hike, the twice-monthly payout schedule and the buyback plan, and noted the stock is still down about 13% from its stated value despite all of it.

What the STRC Situation Means

At current prices, STRC’s effective yield runs close to 13% to 14%, above its stated 12% dividend rate. Buying back $1 billion of stock at roughly $86 would retire about $1.16 billion in stated preferred value, an outcome that lowers Strategy’s future dividend burden regardless of how the market reacts in the short term.

The tradeoff investors are weighing is whether that math translates into a sustained move toward par or whether Strategy would get more value retiring STRK or STRD, which trade at steeper discounts. For now, the framework gives Strategy more tools than it had in June. Whether it uses them, and on which security first, is the question X traders say they will be watching closely in the weeks ahead.