Strategy, the world's largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, is pulling two levers at once. It has thickened its cash buffer for a second straight week while also growing its Bitcoin pile, the clear aim being to keep enough resources on hand to cover dividends and manage its debt.
USD Reserve climbs to $1.1 billion
The company said on Monday that its so-called USD Reserve now stands at $1.1 billion. That balance had slipped as low as $871 million last month, after Strategy moved to buy back a slice of its convertible debt at a discount.
The cash-building drive comes against a backdrop of worries that Strategy might offload more Bitcoin to keep confidence in its flagship preferred stock intact. Last week, JPMorgan analysts argued that “a rebuilding of the company’s dollar reserves might be needed to restore confidence and reduce investor concerns.”
Both the stock and Bitcoin moved higher
Strategy shares climbed 7.2% to $132.66, according to Yahoo Finance. The stock spiked as high as $136 right after the opening bell, although it has still settled 24% lower over the past month. The bounce coincided with Bitcoin pushing above $66,500, a 4% gain over the past day, according to CoinGecko.
The push to gather cash follows the firm's decision a few weeks ago to sell 32 Bitcoin for $2.5 million. The sale amounted to only a tiny fraction of its holdings, yet it was enough to make some investors wonder whether they could still count on the largest corporate Bitcoin holder as a dependable source of demand for the digital asset.
Saylor: ‘Still adding dots’
“Still adding dots,” Strategy Executive Chairman and co-founder Michael Saylor wrote on X on Sunday, pairing the post with a chart that traced the company's Bitcoin purchases in bits of orange.
After buying 1,587 Bitcoin for $100 million last week, the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm indicated that it now owns 846,842 Bitcoin worth $56.3 billion. With Bitcoin trading below Strategy's average purchase price, that entire stockpile was roughly $7.8 billion underwater.
The cash reserve dates to December
Strategy set up its cash reserves back in December, when Bitcoin was sliding, to reassure investors that it could keep making payments on Stretch (STRC). That preferred stock carries an 11.5% annual dividend and is currently worth around $10 billion.
A new risk gauge: CEBE BPS
On Sunday, Saylor appeared to introduce what he called a “conservative risk metric” for the company, named CEBE BPS. It tracks how much Bitcoin the firm holds per share once senior claims are taken into account. In the past, the company has typically measured that ratio before applying senior claims.
Boosting the amount of Bitcoin held per share has long been Strategy's guiding star, but Saylor's comments suggest the firm is now sharpening that lens to factor in its liabilities.
Many ways to measure ‘accretion’
Saylor's latest remarks came just days after he clarified on X that the company gauges “accretion” in more than one way. Traditionally, Strategy has framed accretion around whether its newest purchase lifted the amount of Bitcoin it owns per share.
“Accretion depends on the metric,” he added, pointing out that the company can measure it either through its Bitcoin-owned-per-share figure or through the net value of its assets, cash reserves included.
The purchase Strategy disclosed on Monday actually trimmed its Bitcoin holdings per share, under its usual framework, for a second week in a row. The year-to-date change in Bitcoin owned per share has eased to 12.5% from 13% over that stretch.
