Strategy’s STRC Tops $8.5B in Nine Months; Eyes $350B Market

At the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas, Strategy founder Michael Saylor said the company’s STRC instrument has grown to $8.5 billion in nine months and is targeting about $350 billion of the global private credit market, which he put at roughly $3.5 trillion.

STRC is structured as a perpetual preferred equity instrument backed by bitcoin held on Strategy’s balance sheet. The company is distributing the security through a shelf registration and an at-the-market program. The offering is marketed to retail, institutional and corporate brokerage customers through major brokerage platforms.

The instrument is built around an overcollateralization model with a five-to-one collateral ratio, Saylor said, designed to protect credit investors if the price of bitcoin declines. He described that ratio as providing a buffer that would allow the underlying asset to fall about 80% without harming credit holders. STRC pays an 11% yield to credit investors, while remaining upside accrues to equity holders.

Strategy reported holding 818,334 bitcoin, which Saylor noted makes the company the largest corporate bitcoin holder. He pointed to bitcoin’s recent returns and volatility, saying the asset delivered roughly 38% annualized returns over the past five years and exhibits about 40% volatility. Saylor said the structure is intended to split returns between long-term capital holders and credit investors seeking income.

The company has expanded the shelf registration for STRC to $21 billion in under a year. Saylor said the instrument has compressed volatility through overcollateralization and active management and that the company aims to reduce volatility further. He also described a return-of-capital dividend structure that can defer immediate tax on distributions for some investors.

Looking ahead, Saylor outlined plans to increase dividend frequency, pursue exchange-traded funds and indexes tied to STRC, and develop high-yield digital savings products for a broader user base. At the conference he characterized the offering as a new category of “digital credit,” saying, “Digital credit is a killer application of digital capital.”