Bitcoin News

Story: Strategy Burns $1.38 Billion Reserve on Bond Buyback, Leaving Just Six Months of Dividend…

By Bruce Buterin

1 / 15

The Bond Buyback Math. Zero-coupon. Worth sitting with that for a second. Strategy repurchased debt that paid no interest.

2 / 15

Dilution Risk Piles On Top. So how does Strategy plan to rebuild the reserve? More stock sales.

3 / 15

Strategy — the company formerly known as MicroStrategy — just burned through most of its USD Reserve. Between May 11 and May 25, 2026, it spent $1.

4 / 15

What makes this jarring is where that money was supposed to go. When Strategy built the USD Reserve, management framed it as a protective cushion for preferred shareholders — a…

5 / 15

But the preferred shareholders didn't sign up for a debt-reduction program. They were told the reserve existed for them. And now it's mostly gone.

6 / 15

Strategy's annual obligations for its dividend-paying preferred shares total over $1.7 billion. With $871 million left in the reserve, the math is pretty uncomfortable.

7 / 15

So how does Strategy plan to rebuild the reserve? More stock sales. Specifically, the company plans to issue additional common and preferred shares to replenish the depleted cash.

8 / 15

MSTR has dropped 58% over the past year. It closed at $154.20. And now shareholders are looking at another round of dilution to fund a reserve that was just raided for a purpose…

9 / 15

Related: DDC Enterprise Buys 131 Bitcoin in a Week Without Issuing New Shares

10 / 15

The company's Bitcoin strategy hasn't changed in direction, but the financial mechanics around it keep shifting in ways that leave shareholders absorbing the cost.

11 / 15

There's a broader tension here that's probably worth naming. Strategy built its identity around aggressive Bitcoin accumulation, and the USD Reserve was sold as proof it could do…

12 / 15

Kang's framing — that the move was good for equity and credit — may be accurate from a balance-sheet standpoint. But investor confidence doesn't run purely on balance-sheet logic.

13 / 15

Common shareholders have watched dilution happen repeatedly without a corresponding jump in Bitcoin holdings to justify it.

14 / 15

See also: Crypto Card Monthly Volume Hits $7.8 Billion, Up 230% Since 2025

15 / 15

Strategy's management faces the challenge of rebuilding the reserve while managing shareholder expectations on two fronts simultaneously — preferred holders who want their…

The Currency Analytics

Want the full story?