Strategy burns through 64% of STRC buyback fund

Michael Saylor's BTC treasury firm Strategy has used up 64% of the $2 billion it originally set aside for STRC buybacks.

Ten weeks into the effort to push STRC's price higher, the firm has spent $1.28 billion, with under $724 million remaining as of the Monday SEC filing.

STRC was designed to maintain a $100 per share price, but for most of its trading life it has failed to do so. During their sales pitches, Saylor and Strategy's CEO made irresponsible comparisons to a high-yield bank account or money market, highlighting the generous dividends while glossing over the possibility of a share price collapse.

Indeed, STRC has traded in the $70-$80 range for over a month, and for most trading days in the last year, shares have been below $99.

Although Strategy's $2 billion Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program permits buybacks of three other Strategy stocks (STRF, STRD, and STRK), so far only STRC has been bought back.

For the other three stocks, unlike STRC, Strategy has never stated any intended stable price, making STRC the de facto focus of the fund.

The corporate buybacks have had an effect on STRC's price. Having dropped below $72 per share as recently as June, it opened today's trading at $99.18.

Saylor has artificially created that rally, funded by retail shareholders. The dilution of MSTR, which is common stock junior to STRC, provided nearly all of the US dollars Strategy used for STRC repurchases.

Diluting Strategy shareholders to buy back STRC

Saylor has chosen to aggressively spend the cash from common shareholder dilution.

Last week, Strategy spent $151.7 million on STRC buybacks, a rate six times the level seen when the program began 10 weeks ago.

The repurchases are also costing more; the average price paid last week rose to $98.86 per STRC, compared with $86.52 in late July.

Because of common shareholder dilution, Strategy has bought back 13.3 million STRC shares, about one of every eight outstanding, as it attempts to drive the market to honor the $100 target.

Saylor launched STRC in July 2025 as a perpetual preferred stock with a variable dividend. He marketed the yield as coming from Bitcoin but lacking Bitcoin's volatility.

Saylor believes Bitcoin should appreciate about 30% annually, making 9-12% dividends easy to cover.

However, Bitcoin has not rallied anywhere near that rate over the past five years.

With Bitcoin stagnating, Strategy's board raised STRC's dividend to 12% and approved a $1 billion buyback program on June 29.

By September 8, that authorization had been doubled to $2 billion.