At the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas, Michael Saylor told a packed crowd that Strategy's STRC instrument has grown to $8.5 billion in just nine months, making it what he called the largest and most liquid preferred stock in the world.
Digital Credit: Bitcoin as the Underlying Capital Asset
Saylor opened his keynote by framing the past year as a turning point for digital credit, a category he described as engineered credit built on bitcoin as the underlying capital asset. He stated that the conditions had existed for decades but no one had assembled the pieces correctly. "Digital credit is a killer application of digital capital," Saylor said. "By combining listed public companies, bitcoin as a balance sheet asset, perpetual preferred equity, and a shelf registration with an ATM program, we created something that never existed before." Strategy holds 818,334 bitcoin, making it the largest corporate bitcoin holder globally. Saylor used that position to argue that bitcoin's returns can be split between long-term capital holders and short-term credit investors seeking steady yield. Capital is for those willing to hold through volatility with no cash flows, while credit suits those wanting predictable income without managing risk. "The world runs on credit," Saylor explained. "We convert capital into credit, turn the BTC commodity into currency, and use overcollateralization to strip away risk."
STRC Structure: 5x Overcollateralization and 11% Yield
STRC is built on an overcollateralization model. Saylor noted that a five-to-one collateral ratio means the underlying asset can fall 80% and still fully protect credit investors. The capital investor absorbs the loss while the credit holder remains insulated. Saylor highlighted that bitcoin has delivered approximately 38% annual returns over the past five years, outperforming gold, real estate, and money market instruments. This creates enough headroom to pay credit investors an 11% yield while the remainder compounds for equity holders. Bitcoin's volatility currently runs around 40, but through overcollateralization and active management, STRC has significantly compressed volatility with targets to reduce it further. The result is a product that extracts yield within a month rather than asking investors to wait a decade for gains.
Targeting a $3.5 Trillion Private Credit Market
Saylor pointed to the global private credit market, which he said exceeds $3.5 trillion, as the immediate opportunity. He described that market as illiquid, opaque, and largely restricted to qualified investors with high fees. Digital credit, he argued, is liquid, transparent, scalable, and fee-free. "Even if it captures 10% of the private credit market, that represents $350 billion," Saylor said. STRC's shelf registration has expanded to $21 billion, far exceeding historical norms. The instrument is accessible through major brokerage platforms to retail, institutional, and corporate investors. Additionally, return-of-capital dividends can be structured for tax deferral, allowing investors to receive income without triggering immediate taxable events. Saylor's longer-term plan includes increasing dividend frequency, expanding into ETFs and indexes, and eventually bringing high-yield digital savings instruments to billions of users worldwide. This week, Strategy added another 34,164 bitcoin to its treasury, bringing total holdings to 815,061 BTC, moving toward the one million bitcoin milestone. River noted that STRC inflows have dwarfed ETF net gains. Saylor is optimistic that Strategy could reach 1 million bitcoin by late 2026.