Strategy Posts $21B Gain but Spends More on STRC Buybacks Than Bitcoin

Strategy reported a record third-quarter gain on digital assets of $20.91 billion. Yet last week the company spent far more buying back its own preferred shares than buying Bitcoin. That shifts the emphasis in the story of the largest bitcoin treasury.

What did the Strategy filing actually show?

Between October 1 and 4 the company bought 334 Bitcoin for $28.7 million, an average of $85,838.80 a coin. Total holdings rose to 848,000 BTC, a new record. In the last three days of September it bought nothing.

It repurchased $176.3 million of Stretch (STRC) preferred shares, more than six times what went into Bitcoin. According to Decrypt, citing the company filing, $547.2 million remains in the buyback program.

Why is a quarterly gain not the same as cash?

To read that number you need to know how Strategy keeps its books. The company values Bitcoin at fair value. If the price rose over the quarter, the difference lands in the report as profit even though nobody sold a coin.

So the $20.91 billion is a revaluation, not revenue. It comes with $1.88 billion of deferred tax, which the company pays only when it actually locks in a gain. The takeaway is simple. A record line in the report does not mean that much money showed up in the bank.

Why buy back your own preferred shares?

STRC is a preferred stock on which Strategy pays dividends. One share has a $100 par value, but according to Decrypt it has traded below that mark for months. When the company buys such shares back under par, it retires part of its obligations at a discount. That is likely why the bigger sums went there and not into Bitcoin.

Here is how the buyback looked in numbers.

• Late September: 1,033,168 STRC shares for $102.6 million.
• October 1-4: another 740,634 shares for $73.7 million.
• $154.1 million came out of the USD Cash balance.
• Another $22.2 million came from interest on cash and short-term investments.

Where does the money come from, and how long will it last?

Strategy splits its dollars into two accounts. The USD Reserve covers dividends on preferred shares and interest on debt. USD Cash is for general needs, such as buying Bitcoin. In the week to October 4 the company drew $142.5 million from the reserve for exactly that, dividends and interest.

The 334 BTC purchase was funded by selling 92,894 MSTR shares for $15.7 million net, plus $13 million from USD Cash. Through the ATM program, meaning selling shares into the market in small batches, none of the four preferred lines was issued this time.

What does it mean for the market?

Strategy's average cost basis is $75,440.70, so last week's coins cost almost 14% more. The company keeps adding Bitcoin above its own average, but only in small amounts, while steering larger sums to the preferred stock.

"Last week, we acquired 334 BTC and repurchased $176M of STRC. As of 10/4/26, we hold 848,000 BTC and $5.7B of USD Assets."

- Strategy, from a post on X dated October 5, 2026

It is not alone. Metaplanet sold 10,000 BTC and bought back 11,000 during its own third quarter to show lenders it can turn Bitcoin into cash fast. Both companies now watch the credit side of the balance sheet as closely as the stack of coins.