Strategy, the former MicroStrategy rebranded by co-founder Michael Saylor, confirmed Monday the purchase of 334 bitcoins for $28.7 million, pushing its treasury to a record 848,000 BTC. The transaction, funded by MSTR share sales and dollar cash reserves, came alongside a massive buyback of STRC preferred shares to defend the $100 parity.
🔑 Key takeaways
- 334 BTC acquired between Sept. 28 and Oct. 4, 2026 for $28.7M (avg. price $85,838.80)
- Total holdings: 848,000 BTC, valued at ~$73B at current prices
- Cumulative cost: ~$64B, avg. cost basis $75,440.70, unrealized gains ~$9B
- 121 documented transactions since August 2020, total invested >$63.9B
- 1.77M STRC shares repurchased for $176.3M to support parity
An accelerated buying pace since late summer
According to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, Strategy acquired 334 bitcoins over the period from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, 2026, for a total of $28.7 million, or an average price of $85,838.80 per coin. The new purchase brings the total held to 848,000 BTC, valued at roughly $73 billion at current prices, for a cumulative cost of approximately $64 billion including fees.
The move fits within a series of uninterrupted purchases since late summer. On Sept. 28, Strategy had already announced the acquisition of 1,665 BTC for $142.7 million at an average price of $85,681, then bringing its stockpile to 847,666 BTC. A few weeks earlier, at the end of August, the company had added 4,603 BTC in a single transaction for $370 million at an average price of $80,382.
Contrast with the summer episode
The run sharply contrasts with the summer period. Strategy had in fact carried out several net bitcoin sales — including 1,690 BTC disposed of on Aug. 9 and 2,225 BTC in early July — to shore up its dollar cash position and finance dividends on its preferred shares. The pure accumulation strategy has therefore reasserted itself since late August, fueled by the price rebound above $80,000.
Funding mechanism: MSTR and dollar reserves
The latest purchase illustrates the company’s well-oiled funding machine. Strategy tapped the proceeds of at-the-market (ATM) sales of Class A common stock — the MSTR ticker listed on Nasdaq — along with its dollar cash reserve. As of Oct. 4, the 8-K filing reports $18.8 billion of MSTR shares still available for issuance under the program. The USD Reserve and USD Cash balances stood at $4.88 billion and $833.4 million, respectively, on the same date.
| Period | BTC acquired | Avg. price | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 28 – Oct. 4, 2026 | 334 | $85,838.80 | $28.7M |
| Sept. 28, 2026 | 1,665 | $85,681 | $142.7M |
| Late August 2026 | 4,603 | $80,382 | $370M |
| Cumulative total (Aug. 2020 → Oct. 2026) | 848,000 | $75,440.70 | ~$64B |
During the week of Sept. 21-27 alone, the issuance of MSTR shares generated $246.2 million through the sale of 1,469,165 shares. At the market level, Strategy’s position now represents more than 4% of bitcoin’s maximum supply, capped at 21 million units, and about 4.22% of the supply currently in circulation.
The STRC bet: buying back to defend parity
The other leg of Strategy’s financial communication concerns STRC, the company’s variable-rate perpetual preferred share, nicknamed “Stretch,” which pays an annualized dividend of 12.00% twice monthly. Strategy repurchased 1.77 million STRC shares last week for about $176.3 million, under a board-approved program aimed at managing STRC’s discount to its $100 par value. Of this amount, $154.1 million came from the dollar reserve and $22.2 million was funded by interest earned on cash and short-term investments.
“Stretch and our perpetual preferreds raised $7 billion last year, or 33% of the entire preferreds market.”
Phong Le, CEO of Strategy
Some $142.5 million was also withdrawn to pay dividends on the preferred shares and interest on outstanding debt. The STRC issuance program retains roughly $17.5 billion of unused capacity, and the company has not conducted any additional primary sales since mid-May, when some $2 billion of STRC had been issued in a single week. On prediction markets, the probability that STRC reaches $100 by year-end climbed to 85.5% on Monday, from 84% the previous day and 79% a week earlier, according to Crypto Briefing.
The transaction was preceded on Sunday by a new message from Michael Saylor on X. The executive chairman posted an updated version of Strategy’s bitcoin acquisition tracking chart, captioned “More orange than ever” — a recurring wordplay on the color associated with bitcoin and the Strategy logo. Saylor had also reaffirmed in May that Strategy would buy “between 10 and 20 bitcoin for each coin sold,” after cautious statements by the management team during the Q1 2026 earnings call about the possibility, under certain circumstances, of selling bitcoin to meet STRC dividend obligations.
196 public companies now hold bitcoin
Corporate appetite for bitcoin now extends well beyond Strategy alone. According to Bitcoin Treasuries data relayed by The Block, 196 public companies have now adopted some form of bitcoin acquisition model. The top 5 corporate treasuries are rounded out by Metaplanet (44,000 BTC), Tether-backed Twenty One (43,514 BTC), MARA (35,577 BTC) and Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, backed by Adam Back and Cantor Fitzgerald (30,021 BTC).
| Rank | Company | BTC held |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strategy | 848,000 |
| 2 | Metaplanet | 44,000 |
| 3 | Twenty One (Tether) | 43,514 |
| 4 | MARA | 35,577 |
| 5 | Bitcoin Standard Treasury | 30,021 |
On the institutional side, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have also recorded approximately 88,000 BTC of net inflows since the start of July, according to estimates cited by Crypto Times. In the markets, MSTR shares fell 7.1% last week, closing at $160.01 on Friday. The stock is up 0.5% year-to-date after a clear rebound, but remains down 48% over one year. Bitcoin moved little week-over-week, hovering around the $85,000-86,000 zone at the time of disclosure, after a pullback to $84,600 on Oct. 3 that triggered $433 million in long position liquidations.
Conclusion
With 848,000 bitcoins in its treasury, Strategy cements its status as the leading corporate BTC holder, capturing more than 4% of the maximum supply on its own. The company now finances most of its purchases through preferred shares rather than MSTR common stock, a financial architecture that spares it the massive dilution of the early days. The bet on STRC — a $176.3 million buyback in a single week to defend the $100 parity — illustrates the determination to stabilize an instrument that has become central to the funding strategy.
In the short term, two scenarios are taking shape. If bitcoin manages to hold above the $85,000-87,000 zone, the accumulation mechanism should remain fluid thanks to the $18.8 billion residual capacity of the MSTR program and the $17.5 billion of STRC still available. Conversely, a marked drop below $80,000 could push Strategy to become a net seller again, as in the summer, to meet STRC dividends and debt service — a risk management openly flagged during the Q1 2026 earnings call.
Sources
- Strategy, 8-K filing with the SEC (Oct. 4, 2026)
- The Block, Bitcoin Treasuries data
- Crypto Briefing, STRC prediction markets
- Crypto Times, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF flows
- CoinGecko, bitcoin price data
This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice. Do your own research (DYOR) before making any decision.
