Strategy’s use of its STRC preferred stock to fund Bitcoin purchases added an estimated 4,947 BTC to its treasury by Oct. 12, but K33 Research argues that the higher balance comes with dividend obligations that could outweigh that advantage within roughly seven months.
Strategy reported holding 848,250 BTC as of Oct. 12. K33, a research and brokerage firm, calculated that the company would have held about 843,303 BTC under a counterfactual scenario in which it had largely avoided using STRC financing for Bitcoin acquisitions during 2026.
The comparison places Strategy’s capital structure at the center of its Bitcoin accumulation strategy. Preferred-stock issuance allowed the company to raise funds without issuing additional MSTR common shares, limiting dilution for common shareholders. In exchange, it created fixed dividend commitments that must be paid regardless of Bitcoin’s market price.
K33 estimated that Strategy’s annual preferred-dividend obligations had risen to $1.56 billion, from approximately $830 million earlier in the year. The firm attributed $725 million of that increase to the expansion of STRC. At a Bitcoin price of $83,000, K33 calculated that annual cost as equal to about 8,740 BTC.
That figure exceeds the 4,947-BTC difference between Strategy’s actual holdings and K33’s hypothetical balance. Vetle Lunde, senior analyst at K33 Research, estimated that the additional dividend expense would consume the equivalent of that Bitcoin advantage in around seven months if measured at the same price level.
a model built around diverted cash uses
K33’s scenario removed roughly $7.5 billion raised through STRC during the first half of 2026. It then assumed that several other uses of corporate cash would have been redirected toward Bitcoin purchases.
Those assumptions included deploying the $4 billion that Strategy set aside for a dollar reserve between May and August, as well as $1.6 billion used for STRC share buybacks. The model also assumed that 90% of STRC dividend payments would have been avoided and used to purchase Bitcoin instead.
K33 kept Strategy’s MSTR common-equity issuance unchanged, isolating the effect of STRC financing rather than recasting the company’s entire funding model. Bitcoin purchases in the model were priced using weekly average market prices.
The exercise does not suggest that Strategy could have eliminated the costs of financing without trade-offs. The company’s dollar reserve and preferred-share repurchases provide tools for meeting obligations and supporting preferred shares near their stated value. Redirecting those funds to Bitcoin could have increased the treasury balance under K33’s assumptions, while leaving a smaller pool of immediately available capital for dividends, buybacks and other corporate requirements.
the reserve cushions the dividend burden
Strategy’s dedicated dollar reserve stood at $4.88 billion, according to the supplied figures, while standard cash balances were reported at $640.5 million. K33 estimated that the reserve could cover about 42 months of preferred dividends.
That reserve gives Strategy a substantial buffer against short-term financing pressure. It also shows the scale of the recurring commitment created by the preferred-stock program: a multibillion-dollar cash pool is being maintained partly to ensure dividend payments can continue through periods when raising new capital or selling Bitcoin would be less attractive.
Strategy has positioned the reserve as part of a structure designed to support its Bitcoin treasury strategy rather than force asset sales to meet regular obligations. Yet the reserve also represents capital that is not currently deployed into Bitcoin. K33’s model treats that opportunity cost as central to judging whether STRC financing has improved the company’s Bitcoin-per-share strategy.
Strategy recently disclosed the purchase of 250 BTC for $21.5 million, or an average price of $86,194 per Bitcoin. That acquisition lifted its reported cumulative Bitcoin spending to roughly $64 billion and put its aggregate average purchase price at $75,444 per BTC, based on the figures provided.
With Bitcoin trading near $82,863 in the market snapshot included in K33’s report, the company’s reported average acquisition price remained below the spot price cited for the day. The gap between the two is relevant to Strategy’s balance-sheet position, but it does not remove the need to service preferred dividends in cash.
strc trades below par as buybacks continue
STRC closed at $99.90 on Oct. 13, just below its $100 par value. Strategy has bought back STRC shares in recent weeks, a move that can support the preferred stock’s trading level while reducing the number of shares carrying future dividend payments.
The company also proposed in September to move STRC and three other preferred stocks to daily dividend payments. The proposal requires shareholder approval. Strategy said the change would not increase its regular dividend obligations.
Daily payments would alter the timing of cash distributions rather than the stated regular dividend amount. For holders of the preferred securities, the proposal could make income payments more frequent. For Strategy, the larger issue remains the aggregate annual cost across its preferred-stock base.
K33’s comparison frames the debate less as a question of whether Strategy can buy more Bitcoin today and more as a question of how long the incremental BTC acquired through preferred financing remains economically beneficial. The company has gained nearly 5,000 more BTC than the model’s alternative path, while taking on annual dividend costs that K33 estimates are equivalent to substantially more Bitcoin than that initial lead.
The outcome will depend on future Bitcoin prices, the company’s ability to manage its preferred shares, and whether it continues to use STRC financing at a similar pace. A rising Bitcoin price can increase the value of Strategy’s holdings, while dividend obligations remain denominated in dollars. A weaker market, meanwhile, would place greater attention on the reserve, preferred-share prices and the cost of maintaining the company’s financing structure.
Want deeper insight into reserves and macro drivers? Explore our analysis in this Bitcoin strategic reserve overview.
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