Strategy Founder Michael Saylor: Hopes for Success of Strive and All Well-Managed Bitcoin-Driven Digital Credit Issuers
Michael Saylor, founder of Strategy, stated that he hopes for the success of Strive and all well-managed Bitcoin-driven digital credit issuers. Both are built on the same tier: Bitcoin is digital capital, STRC and SATA are digital credit, while MSTR and ASST are digital equity.
He clarified that the two companies offer different securities, make independent decisions, serve different goals, and will compete for single allocations while also growing long-term opportunities together. Citing SIFMA data, by the end of 2025, the global stock market capitalization will be $157.8 trillion, and fixed income balance will be $160.7 trillion, with 0.1% of either market being about $160 billion. Bitcoin treasury stocks and Bitcoin-driven credit are still young categories seeking recognition in a larger market.
The triple amplification he described is: corporate financing to buy supply-constrained Bitcoin can increase demand and improve asset coverage; more issuers launching digital credit can accumulate research, trading, and liquidity, reduce unfamiliar premiums, and potentially narrow spreads and financing costs; more companies proving that models can traverse different market conditions may increase recognition of digital equity. He also emphasized that a single purchase does not guarantee a price increase, Bitcoin does not pay interest, and profits between asset returns and financing costs must be earned through disciplined management; an increase in issuers will not automatically raise valuations.
The model depends on a robust capital structure, prudent liquidity, transparent disclosure, and useful products. Weak issuers may harm confidence in the entire category, while more credible issuers can meet institutional diversification needs and attract funds that would not otherwise enter the market. He noted that those who learn to evaluate SATA are better prepared to assess STRC. Strive disclosed a purchase of $50 million in STRC on March 11, which he viewed as complementary rather than zero-sum.
Strategy holds approximately 847,666 Bitcoins; Strive holds about 27,462 Bitcoins, ranking fifth on the public holdings list, behind Strategy, Twenty One Capital, Metaplanet, and MARA. STRC is a variable-rate perpetual preferred stock with a par value of $100, yielding about 12% annually, with semi-monthly dividends, aiming to stay close to par; SATA yields about 13%, with dividends on business days. Strategy's preferred stock series raised about $7.53 billion in the first half of the year. During the June sell-off, STRC briefly fell to about $82.53, while SATA dropped to a low of $90, with daily trading volumes of approximately $950 million and $150 million, respectively.
Funds circulate between preferred stock subscriptions, buybacks, and Bitcoin purchases, rather than competing for the same wallet in a zero-sum manner. Buyers are credit allocation pools seeking dollar returns, while sellers are treasury companies issuing preferred stock for cash to buy Bitcoin. The event is about narrative alignment, not mergers or concessions. Beneficiaries are leading issuers who can hold positions with each other and institutions needing research samples; those under pressure are later entrants with loose capital structures, weak disclosures, which may drag down category pricing, and buyers treating preferred stock as stablecoins. Bitcoin itself still does not yield interest, and narrowing spreads depend on discipline, not slogans.
Source: Public Information
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After renaming MicroStrategy to Strategy, Saylor restructured the balance sheet into three tiers: the bottom tier stacks Bitcoin, the middle tier issues preferred stocks like STRC, STRF, STRK, STRD, STRE, and the top tier retains MSTR to capture volatility. In 2025, a series of preferred stocks will be continuously rolled out, with about $7.53 billion raised in the first half of 2026, and then using common stock ATM, convertible bonds, and preferred stock buybacks to toggle between Bitcoin prices and par. Strive, built by Matt Cole with a pension background, charges management fees as an advisor while issuing SATA to buy Bitcoin and holding STRC in reverse, effectively acknowledging that the credit tier of competitors is also a configurable asset.
Capital is migrating from traditional fixed income and preferred stock ETFs into these perpetual preferred stocks, which are then converted into Bitcoin by the issuers. The motivation is not for the two companies to split the price increase of Bitcoin, but to rewrite a small piece of the $157.8 trillion stock and $160.7 trillion bond markets into a "digital credit" shelf. More issuers can dilute unfamiliar premiums, allowing Strategy to adjust the STRC rate from 9% at issuance to about 12%, while still having the opportunity to compress financing costs through liquidity and research coverage. Resource mobilization relies on ATM, preferred stock issuance, buybacks, and cash reserves layered: part pays interest, part buys Bitcoin or repays debt. The June round was not a credit default but a liquidity clearing, with PFF's daily trading volume even lower than STRC's.
In comparison to Berkshire using float to buy stocks, Freddie Mac turning mortgages into agency bonds, and stablecoins converting dollars into on-chain cash. Saylor places Bitcoin in the "non-interest-bearing capital" category and preferred stock in the "credit paying dollar interest" category, avoiding competition with spot ETFs for the same type of buyers. The industry is expanding from a single treasury company into a multi-issuer validation period: whoever can pin preferred stock near $100 during Bitcoin price pullbacks will set the category's pricing; whoever fails to pay interest or depletes reserves will pollute the entire curve.
The essence is the transfer of pricing power. Bitcoin does not generate interest; interest must be "managed" out of the financing structure; whoever can leave volatility to common stock and sell interest to credit accounts will seize fixed income budgets from Bitcoin price believers. The mechanism is that the global bond stock is too large, with 0.1% being $160 billion, enough for several public companies to take turns issuing preferred stock; however, a weak issuer losing par once will reprice "digital credit" as high-volatility stocks. For the category to grow, it relies not on mutual blessings but on who can pin $100 first.
ABAB News · Law of Cognition
Non-interest-bearing assets must rely on structure to become credit
More qualified issuers will reduce unfamiliar premiums
Weak issuers can contaminate the pricing of the entire curve