Strategy CEO Phong Le revealed on Thursday that retail investors now account for approximately 80% of holders in the company’s flagship preferred share, STRC, compared with roughly 40% of its common stock, MSTR. Le shared the figures in a post on X, framing the disparity as evidence that individual investors gravitate toward what he described as low-volatility, high-yield digital credit. The disclosure highlights a notable shift in who is absorbing the company’s fundraising activity as it continues to accumulate Bitcoin.
STRC carries a market capitalisation of $5 billion, meaning retail investors hold an estimated $4 billion worth of the dividend-paying instrument based on Le’s 80% figure. By comparison, a 40% retail slice of Strategy’s $46.3 billion common-stock market cap translates to roughly $18.5 billion in notional terms. While retail ownership of MSTR remains larger in absolute dollar value, the proportional tilt toward STRC signals a meaningful change in investor preference.
Strategy’s common stock has fallen 56% over the past six months to $134, providing context for why individual investors may be seeking a more stable alternative. STRC, which debuted in July and trades on the Nasdaq, currently pays an annual dividend of 11.5% and is engineered to trade near its $100 par value. When the share price rises above that threshold, Strategy issues additional shares to fund further Bitcoin purchases; if it falls below, the firm has indicated it will raise the dividend to stimulate demand.
Retail-focused trading platforms including Robinhood, Kraken, and Webull have expanded access to STRC, broadening its reach among individual investors. Strategy Executive Chairman and co-founder Michael Saylor said shortly after the product launched that it could appeal to an entirely new class of investors, citing retirees as one example. The product has also begun appearing on the balance sheets of other Bitcoin-buying companies.
Equity research analyst Mark Palmer at investment banking firm Benchmark-StoneX said the divergence in retail preference between the two securities makes sense when assessed on a risk-adjusted basis. He described MSTR as a leveraged, non-yielding Bitcoin proxy with theoretically unlimited upside but one better suited to sophisticated, risk-tolerant investors. STRC, he argued, offers predictable income through its high yield and significant Bitcoin overcollateralisation, which limits downside and aligns more naturally with how most retail investors think about income-generating assets.
Palmer added that STRC is carving out a distinct investor base rather than competing directly with Strategy’s common equity. Institutional investors, he noted, tend to favour the relative liquidity and asymmetric risk-reward profile of MSTR, making it unlikely they will displace retail demand for STRC. This dynamic, in his view, strengthens Strategy’s overall capacity to raise capital for Bitcoin accumulation by expanding the company’s addressable investor pool.
Strategy has raised more than $1.5 billion through STRC so far this month alone, representing approximately 33% of the product’s market cap including its multi-billion-dollar public offering. Lance Vitzana, managing director of equity research at the investment bank, recently noted that issuance of STRC accelerated following Strategy’s annual conference in Las Vegas last month, where the product was marketed aggressively over two days. Benchmark analysts currently carry a year-end price target of $705 for Strategy, while analysts at TD Cowen recently set their target at $500.
Originally reported by Decrypt.
