Bitwise: $7.2B in STRC Buys Drove Bitcoin Rally

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan wrote that Strategy bought about $7.2 billion of Bitcoin through its perpetual preferred stock, STRC, over an eight-week period. Bitwise identified those purchases as the single biggest factor in Bitcoin’s roughly 20% rise from a Feb. 6 low of $62,822 to about $76,486 on Wednesday. The report also noted exchange-traded funds added roughly $3.8 billion in purchases since March 1.

Hougan reported that Bitcoin traded between $75,849 and $79,321 over the prior seven days. He placed Strategy’s STRC program alongside ETF inflows and renewed buying by long-term holders as demand drivers, and identified STRC-funded purchases as the main contributor during the eight-week span.

Strategy, the largest publicly listed corporate holder of Bitcoin, continued weekly purchases. The firm bought 3,273 BTC for $255 million between April 20 and April 26, bringing total holdings to about 818,334 BTC. That total has edged past the roughly 812,300 coins held by another large asset manager on behalf of clients.

STRC is a perpetual preferred stock that pays a fixed dividend while the company operates. Bitwise reported the security yields about 11.5% at current levels, compared with junk bonds yielding under 7%, and estimated the STRC yield is backed by more than a $40 billion Bitcoin cushion.

Hougan wrote, “Strategy issues STRC because it wants to buy more Bitcoin. Most of the capital raised by issuing STRC is used to purchase BTC on the open market.” He added that he expects Strategy could raise “billions more” through additional STRC issuances.

The report included a hypothetical assessment of dividend sustainability. At current prices, Hougan estimated Strategy could “pay existing dividends for 42 years.” He said that if Bitcoin rose about 20% per year, the company could sustain dividend payments indefinitely. Strategy’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, has previously argued the firm could continue dividend payments if Bitcoin’s value keeps growing.

Analysts noted potential scale effects if the buying pace continues. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, estimated Strategy would need about 277,666 more coins to match wallets commonly attributed to Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, which are estimated at about 1.1 million BTC.

Strategy’s purchases have varied this year. The smallest recorded buy in 2026 was 855 BTC in February, while the largest so far was 34,164 BTC on April 20. Bitwise framed the ongoing purchases as a continuing source of demand and identified STRC as the funding mechanism that enabled the recent accumulation.