A new class of crypto treasury companies is emerging around Strategy’s high-yielding stock, STRC, attracting companies looking to capture both bitcoin exposure and additional income.
STRC is a security issued by Strategy, the largest publicly traded holder of Bitcoin, as a financing vehicle to support its current Bitcoin accumulation strategy. The company raises capital by offering investors an 11.5% annualized dividend, paid monthly in cash, with the proceeds primarily used to purchase BTC.
The stock’s popularity is such that it saw record trading volume on Tuesday, with more than $1.6 billion worth of shares changing hands.
STRC, the new base layer
As trading volumes increase, a growing number of companies and decentralized financial protocols are accumulating STRC to capture their yield while gaining indirect exposure to Bitcoin.
STRC is now used as a base layer for new financial products that add leverage, tokenization, and structured yield.
Saturn Credit, a Bitcoin-backed yield platform, accumulated $15 million in STRC within six days of its launch. Apyx, an on-chain lending protocol, built a position of 800,000 shares after purchasing an additional 200,000 STRC, with the intention of becoming one of the largest holders.
BitStrategy takes a similar approach. Co-founder and US head Ryan McGinnis said the company aims to accumulate strategy holdings, with a long-term goal of becoming the world’s largest strategy shareholder.
On-chain, nearly $200 million in tokenized STRC now exists on Ethereum, with nearly $100 million traded on Pendle. Pendle is a decentralized finance platform that allows users to trade and segregate the yield of underlying assets, creating markets for future income streams.
Ex-dividend date pushes STRC below par value
During Wednesday’s pre-market session, STRC fell to $99.39, falling below its par value of $100, a benchmark price set by the company often linked to how it issues new shares. This happened after the stock went “ex-dividend,” meaning new buyers are no longer eligible to receive the next dividend payment.
With the price now below $100, the company will temporarily stop selling new shares through its at-market sales (ATM) program.
