Strategy sold 3.46 million MSTR shares for $333.7 million last week, using the capital not to buy Bitcoin but to shore up its balance sheet through two parallel moves: a $150 million addition to its USD Reserve and a $132.2 million repurchase of its STRC preferred stock.
The company's Bitcoin stack stayed fixed at 840,447 BTC as of Aug. 16. At Bitcoin's current price of $63,495, that position is worth roughly $53.3 billion. Strategy accumulated those coins at an average cost of $75,385 per unit, meaning the treasury is currently underwater by approximately $10 billion relative to its total acquisition cost.
The USD Reserve now stands at $4.8 billion, up from $4.65 billion reported as of Aug. 9. The reserve's duration extended 41 days to 2.8 years following the latest additions. Duration measures how long the reserve can sustain obligations at its current payout rate—a longer figure gives the company more runway without needing to tap capital markets or liquidate Bitcoin.
The STRC repurchase tightened the stock's BTC Credit spread by four basis points to 114 basis points. The BTC Credit spread reflects the yield premium STRC carries relative to Bitcoin-denominated benchmarks—a tighter spread means the market is pricing STRC as a lower-risk instrument relative to that benchmark. STRC ended last week near $95, recovering from a June low of $75 but still short of its $100 par value—the stated face value at which the stock was originally priced.
The $52.4 million balance of the $333.7 million raise went to fund dividends. That figure completes the capital allocation picture from the share sale: $150 million to reserves, $132.2 million to buy back STRC, $52.4 million to dividends—accounting for the full proceeds.
No Bitcoin moved in or out during the week ending Aug. 16. That stands in contrast to the prior week, when Strategy sold 1,690 BTC and raised $653 million from MSTR share sales, simultaneously boosting its USD Reserve to $4.65 billion and repurchasing $109 million of STRC. In that earlier transaction, the reserve's duration extended 143 days to 2.7 years and the STRC BTC Credit spread tightened by 10 basis points.
The week-over-week comparison shows a clear pattern: Strategy is using equity issuance to fund preferred-stock buybacks and cash reserves rather than adding to its Bitcoin position. Two Bitcoin sales in August preceded the current pause. CEO Phong Le said last week the company still plans to resume Bitcoin purchases and expects to do so before the end of the year.
Strategy has built the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury in existence through a combination of convertible debt issuance, preferred stock offerings including STRC, and periodic MSTR share sales. The $4.8 billion USD Reserve functions as a liquidity buffer—large enough to service debt obligations and preferred dividends without forced Bitcoin liquidations during price downturns.
The STRC repurchase program draws attention because the stock has traded below par since June. Buying back shares below $100 when the par value is $100 is mathematically accretive—Strategy retires a liability at a discount. At $95, each $100 of face-value obligation costs the company $95 to extinguish, a five-percent gain on the retirement. The $132.2 million repurchase at recent prices retired more than $139 million in face-value obligations.
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index sits at 31, in Fear territory, on the same day Strategy reported these moves. Bitcoin is up 0.8 percent over the past 24 hours at $63,495 but remains well below Strategy's $75,385 average cost basis—a gap the company will need Bitcoin to close before its treasury shows a net unrealized gain.
Strategy's next disclosed data point will be its Aug. 16 weekly filing. Le's guidance points to a Bitcoin purchase resuming by year-end, which would be the first acquisition since the two August sales broke what had been an extended accumulation streak.
