Michael Saylor's Strategy ignores Bitcoin and continues accumulating dollars.

Strategy reported on Monday, July 20, that it had raised over $263.5 million through the sale of Class A common stock (MSTR). Between July 13 and 19, 2,732,318 Class A shares were sold, according to Form 8-K filed with the SEC, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company, led by Michael Saylor, maintains a continuous stock sale program on the market — the so-called ATM ("at-the-market") — through which it gradually places shares at market price, without a specific closed offering with banks. In the previous week (July 6-12), the company had already raised US$466.7 million with the sale of 4.8 million shares.

Over the past two weeks, MSTR has fluctuated between $94.88 and $101.95, more than 15% above the two-year low recorded in mid-June, when Strategy announced its first bitcoin sales, raising questions about a possible shift in the company's stance in this market.

Despite the recovery, the shares, trading at around US$96 on the morning of July 20, are still down 82% from their all-time high of US$543, reached in November 2024.

Arguing that cryptocurrency would be a better store of value than the dollar because it has a pre-defined number of issuances, Strategy began buying bitcoin in 2020, becoming a benchmark for dozens of listed companies that shifted their activities to accumulating digital currencies , such as Méliuz in Brazil .

Strategy's acquisition slump coincides with the launch of its biggest capital policy overhaul in years, announced on June 29.

Dubbed the "Digital Credit Capital Framework," the package of measures stemmed from a liquidity squeeze. In May, Strategy used a significant portion of its dollar reserves to repurchase $1.5 billion in convertible notes, and the company's cash fell to $871 million—equivalent to just six months of coverage for the approximately $1.76 billion the company needs to pay annually in preferred stock dividends and debt interest.

Since launching the framework, Strategy has sold 3,588 bitcoins for approximately US$216 million—the largest sale of the asset ever made by the company. During the same period, the company raised another US$730.2 million through the sale of common stock via ATM, increasing the company's dollar reserves to US$3.225 billion, more than triple the level recorded about two months ago.

In addition to the common stock issued to raise capital, the company also maintains four series of preferred shares on the market. Three of them have a fixed dividend: STRF, STRD, and STRK, which pay 10%, 10%, and 8% per year, respectively, on the face value of US$100 per share. The fourth, STRC ("Stretch"), has a variable dividend—and it is precisely this one that the company has been using as a barometer of market stress.

As part of the June 29 framework, Strategy raised STRC's dividend yield from 11.5% to 12% annually. In a statement, the company said the change aims to bring the stock price back to the $99-$100 range—close to face value—as STRC had been trading below that level.

The company also stated that it will reassess this rate monthly, considering factors such as the trading price of STRC itself, credit spreads, the price and volatility of bitcoin, and the coverage of dollar reserves. It also emphasized that the increase is neither automatic nor guaranteed, as dividends on preferred shares always depend on a declaration from the board.

Days before the announcement of the framework and the dividend rate review, STRC reached an all-time low of $71.25 on June 26. The stock has since recovered some of those losses, but, trading near $88 this Monday, it is still far from the face value of $100 that the company says it is aiming for.

On Monday, the company's shares traded higher, with STRC rising more than 3%, while common shares advanced more than 5% at their intraday high. With the day's gains coupled with new issuances, Strategy claims on its website to have increased its market capitalization to approximately US$37 billion—a level still 31% below the value of its bitcoin holdings.

While the new issuances represent a dilution of the shareholder base, on the other hand, they demonstrate the company's ability to raise capital, albeit at an unfavorable rate compared to the value of its bitcoin reserves.

With enough dollars to cover short-term payments, concerns about the need to sell more cryptocurrency decrease, and consequently, so do uncertainties related to potential selling pressure on the company in this market. On Monday, Bitcoin rose about 1%, trading around US$65,400, reducing its year-to-date loss to 30%.

The current level remains below the average price paid by Strategy for its bitcoins, which is US$75,476. With 843,775 bitcoins in stock so far, the company's strategy has resulted in a loss of approximately US$8.5 billion.

The reserve is about twenty times larger than the second-largest bitcoin treasury, held by Twenty One Capital, and equivalent to 4% of the total volume of the cryptocurrency ever issued.