Strategy and Strive Reveal Two Sides of the Bitcoin Credit Trade
Two of the largest Bitcoin treasury companies are making opposite moves with the same financing tool.
Summary:
- Strategy is using buybacks to reduce preferred-stock exposure when pricing makes repurchases attractive.
- Strive is moving the other way, using SATA as a major source of fresh Bitcoin funding.
- Preferred securities can avoid conventional debt, but their dividends create recurring cash obligations.
- Bitcoin treasury strategies increasingly depend on capital structure, not only BTC accumulation.
Strategy repurchased $176.3 million of its STRC preferred stock during the week through September 7 and doubled its Digital Credit Securities repurchase authorization to $2 billion. At the same time, Strive acquired another 1,375 BTC for $109 million, with CEO Matt Cole saying 70% of the capital it raised last week came through its SATA preferred stock. Together, the transactions show how the corporate Bitcoin trade is moving beyond simply issuing securities to buy BTC and into the harder question of managing the cost of that capital.
Strive acquired an additional 1,375 BTC for $109M at an average cost of $79,281 per bitcoin, bringing total holdings to ₿24,531.
70% of the capital raised last week came from $SATA, which now has $999M notional outstanding.
Time to break the billion-dollar wall.$ASST $SATA pic.twitter.com/qjjykekHTk
— Matt Cole (@ColeMacro) September 8, 2026
Strategy Is Now Buying Back the Securities It Previously Issued
Between August 31 and September 7, Strategy bought 1,810,885 STRC shares for $176.3 million, according to its latest 8-K Filing. No STRF, STRK, STRD or MSTR shares were repurchased during the period.
Michael Saylor also said the company increased its Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program from $1 billion to $2 billion. As of September 7, Strategy held 845,050 BTC alongside $6.5 billion in U.S. dollar assets.
Strategy has repurchased $176M of $STRC and increased the size of its Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program from $1.0B to $2.0B. As of 9/7/26, we hold 845,050 $BTC and $6.5B of USD Assets. $MSTR https://t.co/mxqv9QCRat
— Michael Saylor (@saylor) September 8, 2026
The buyback is part of a broader shift in how Strategy manages the securities surrounding its Bitcoin treasury.
Strategy introduced its Digital Credit Capital Framework in June, giving management the ability to issue preferred securities when financing is attractive and repurchase them when market pricing creates a better opportunity. The company has specifically prioritized STRC, its variable-rate perpetual preferred stock.
The economics are different from repurchasing common shares simply because management thinks they are cheap. STRC carries a recurring dividend obligation. Retiring shares can therefore remove future cash payments from Strategy’s capital structure.
Strategy described that logic in its second-quarter results, saying purchases below the security’s $100 stated amount can reduce future preferred dividends while supporting STRC’s market price.
The latest transaction also continues an established pattern. Strategy spent another $151.8 million on STRC repurchases in the preceding week.
Strive Is Using Preferred Capital to Buy More Bitcoin
The company purchased 1,375 BTC for approximately $109 million, paying an average $79,281 per coin. The acquisition increased its treasury to 24,531 BTC.
More revealing than the purchase itself is how Strive financed its recent capital raising.
Cole said 70% of the capital raised during the previous week came from SATA, Strive’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock. SATA now has $999 million of notional outstanding, putting the preferred security just below the $1 billion threshold.
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SATA is designed specifically around Strive’s Bitcoin treasury model. The company began paying dividends on the security every business day in June, with an annualized rate of 13% reported in its second-quarter results. Strive also said in August that it had eliminated its short and long-term debt, leaving its Bitcoin unencumbered.
That combination explains the appeal. Preferred stock allows Strive to raise substantial capital without using conventional secured debt or pledging BTC as collateral.
It does not make the capital free.
Preferred Stock Moves the Risk From Maturity to Cash Flow
The difference between debt and perpetual preferred stock matters for Bitcoin treasury companies.
Conventional debt normally creates a maturity date when principal must be repaid or refinanced. A perpetual preferred security removes that fixed maturity but replaces it with an ongoing dividend burden.
For a company accumulating an asset as volatile as Bitcoin, that changes rather than eliminates financing risk.
Strive can keep its BTC unencumbered while SATA provides new purchasing power. But as SATA grows, so does the cash needed to service its preferred holders. Strategy’s experience shows what the next stage can look like: once the preferred layer becomes large enough, management has to decide whether issuing more securities, maintaining dividends or retiring existing securities offers the best economics.
Strategy has already built that flexibility into its framework. Its board has authorized Bitcoin monetization for specific purposes, including replenishing its dollar reserve, meeting dividend and interest obligations, and financing accretive security repurchases when management considers selling BTC preferable to issuing common equity.
That creates a feedback loop investors need to watch. Bitcoin supports the treasury model, securities finance additional Bitcoin, and the obligations created by those securities eventually have to be serviced from cash, new capital or, under some circumstances, Bitcoin itself.
The Bitcoin Treasury Trade Is Becoming a Capital-Structure Trade
The two companies now illustrate different stages of the same strategy.
Strive is still expanding the preferred-capital engine and converting much of the proceeds into BTC. Strategy, after building a much larger and more complex stack of Bitcoin-linked securities, is actively managing liabilities alongside its Bitcoin reserve.
That makes BTC-per-share growth only one part of the analysis.
Investors also need to watch the cost of preferred capital, dividend coverage, issuance prices, repurchase prices and the amount of new Bitcoin obtained for every dollar of financing obligation created.
Those variables become more important when Bitcoin falls. The asset side of the balance sheet can reprice immediately, while preferred dividend obligations remain.
Strategy’s recent framework was built with that tension in mind. Its second-quarter disclosure showed that the company had already paid more than $1 billion in cumulative preferred dividends and explicitly tracks the effective cost of its credit against the return required from Bitcoin to make the structure accretive.
Strive’s growing SATA program will eventually face the same test.
The latest transactions therefore tell a broader story than one company buying Bitcoin while another buys back stock. Corporate Bitcoin treasuries are developing their own credit markets, and the next measure of success will be whether those financing structures can survive Bitcoin volatility without consuming the value they were designed to create.
The information presented in this article is intended for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as financial, investment, or trading advice. Coinspress.com does not promote or advocate for any particular investment strategy, asset, or cryptocurrency project. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and unpredictable – always perform your own research and seek guidance from a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions.
Alexander Zdravkov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alexander Zdravkov is a market analyst and crypto journalist with interests in economics, broader financial markets and digital assets. His journey into crypto began more than four years ago, driven by a fascination with the rapid evolution of blockchain technology and the transformative potential of decentralized finance. He began analyzing market cycles and identifying emerging trends before they reach the mainstream. He holds a degree in International Relations - a background that helped shape his broader perspective on global economics, geopolitics, and the interconnected nature of modern financial markets. Whether covering the latest developments in the crypto sector or exploring broader macroeconomic themes, Alexander focuses on giving readers context rather than simply repeating headlines. During his career, he has authored more than 10,000 articles covering cryptocurrencies, traditional finance, and global market developments. His work spans everything from Bitcoin and altcoins to macroeconomic trends influencing risk assets worldwide.
