闪电五连鞭！Strategy自救方案正式出炉

Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Azuma (@azuma_eth)

Strategy, deeply mired in the STRC de-pegging crisis, has finally unveiled its self-rescue plan.

On the evening of June 29, Beijing time, Strategy officially released a new plan called the "Digital Credit Capital Framework," aimed at strengthening the credit quality of its various preferred stocks (clearly referring to STRC), enhancing liquidity, and creating long-term value for shareholders while maintaining long-term Bitcoin exposure.

According to Strategy's disclosure, the framework comprises five main components, detailed as follows:

• Cash Reserve Status;
• STRC Dividend Policy;
• Preferred Stock Buyback Plan;
• Common Stock Buyback Plan;
• Bitcoin Monetization Plan.

Below, Odaily Planet Daily provides a detailed analysis of each of the five components in this plan (Odaily Note: Recommended reading: STRC De-pegs 11%, Can Strategy's Perpetual Motion Machine Keep Running?; If STRC Doesn't Re-peg, There's No Bitcoin Bull Market).

Cash Reserves: Two Years of Dividends Pre-funded

In this announcement, Strategy first disclosed its cash reserve status.

As of June 28, Strategy held approximately $2.55 billion in USD Reserves, which includes funds raised from ATM offerings that have not yet been fully settled.

The key point is that Strategy has institutionalized the management of this cash for the first time. According to the new policy approved by the board, these USD reserves can now only be used for two purposes: first, to pay dividends on its preferred stocks (primarily STRC); and second, to pay interest expenses on the company's existing debt. Any other use requires further board approval.

Based on Strategy's current annual preferred stock dividend and debt interest expenses of approximately $1.76 billion, the $2.55 billion in cash is sufficient to cover about 17.4 months. Additionally, the company has set a hard floor: future USD reserves must not fall below the projected dividend and interest expenses for the next 12 months; otherwise, board approval is required.

Furthermore, Strategy has incorporated the approved $1.25 billion BTC monetization limit (detailed in Part 5 below) into its liquidity safeguard system. Together, the company currently has approximately $3.8 billion in available liquidity, capable of covering about 25.9 months of preferred stock dividend and debt interest expenses.

Essentially, this is Strategy's direct response to the market's biggest concern over the past period – "Can its cash reserves cover STRC's dividend payment obligations?"

Strategy's funding sources heavily rely on continuous financing. Once the issuance of common stock, preferred stock, or convertible bonds is hindered, the market begins to worry about the company's ability to continue fulfilling high dividend payouts. This is one of the key reasons for STRC's persistent de-pegging. The current situation can be understood as Strategy "pre-funding" the next two years of dividends and committing that these funds will not be diverted. For STRC holders, this adds a safety cushion independent of the financing market and helps alleviate short-term solvency concerns.

Dividend Policy: Raised to 12%, but De-pegging Doesn't Equal a Rate Hike

Another key piece of information in this announcement is the adjustment to STRC's dividend policy.

Strategy announced that, effective July 1, the annualized dividend yield for STRC will be raised to 12% from its previous level. Going forward, Strategy will evaluate STRC's dividend yield monthly, considering factors including STRC's market price, market yields, credit spreads, BTC price and volatility, cash reserve coverage levels, capital market conditions, and the overall capital structure.

However, Strategy specifically added a disclaimer this time, emphasizing that even if STRC falls below $100, the company may not necessarily increase the dividend. Adjusting dividends is just one of many capital management tools; the company can also stabilize the market through cash reserve management, BTC monetization, preferred stock buybacks, common stock buybacks, etc. Therefore, it will not simply use the formula "de-pegging = rate hike" as a fixed rule.

Preferred Stock Buyback: Up to $1 Billion, Prioritizing STRC

Here comes the most crucial information! While the first two measures aimed to enhance STRC's attractiveness through market mechanisms, the third measure represents Strategy's first formal deployment of a tool for direct intervention in secondary market prices.

According to the announcement, Strategy has approved a digital credit securities (i.e., preferred stock) buyback plan of up to $1 billion, covering four preferred stock products: STRC, STRF, STRD, and STRK. Strategy also explicitly stated that if management believes a buyback would be accretive and help improve the capital structure, STRC will be the priority target for buybacks.

For Strategy, this offers at least three benefits:

• First, buying back discounted preferred stock is itself a good deal. For example, when STRC trades at $90, the company only needs to spend $90 million to cancel $100 million in notional value of preferred stock, directly reducing the principal base for future dividend payments.
• Second, as the number of outstanding preferred shares decreases, the company's future annual dividend expenses will also decline proportionally, further alleviating cash flow pressure and improving overall credit quality.
• More importantly, when the company becomes an actual buyer in the market, it sends a clear signal – Strategy will not allow its digital credit products to trade at significant discounts for an extended period.

Of course, this authorization does not necessarily mean the company will immediately initiate buybacks. Strategy specifically emphasized that the $1 billion is just the maximum authorization granted by the board to management, with no fixed execution timeline or minimum execution amount requirement. Actual implementation will still depend on market prices, liquidity, and management's judgment on capital allocation efficiency.

Additionally, one detail deserves attention. Strategy explicitly stated that preferred stock buybacks will not use USD reserve funds. If future BTC sales are needed to fund buybacks, they must be executed through the BTC Monetization Plan mentioned later. This means Strategy deliberately separated the funding sources for "ensuring dividend payments" and "repurchasing securities," preventing market concerns that the company might compromise preferred holders' payment security for buybacks.

Common Stock Buyback: Also Up to $1 Billion, Appeasing Shareholders

In addition to preferred stock, Strategy also simultaneously introduced a common stock (MSTR) buyback plan of up to $1 billion.

Similar to the preferred stock plan, this authorization allows the company to repurchase MSTR shares through various methods, including open market purchases, block trades, privately negotiated transactions, and accelerated share repurchases (ASR), depending on market conditions. However, compared to the preferred stock buyback's primary goal of stabilizing the digital credit system, the common stock buyback has a more direct objective – to create long-term value for common shareholders when management believes MSTR's stock price is below its intrinsic value.

This is actually a very mature capital allocation concept in capital markets. Historically, Strategy has almost always played the role of a stock issuer. Because MSTR has long enjoyed a valuation premium significantly higher than its net asset value (mNAV), the company has continuously issued common stock via ATM offerings, converting high valuations into cash to buy more Bitcoin.

However, this logic does not hold forever. For the first time, Strategy explicitly stated in the announcement that going forward, the company will maintain discipline in common stock financing, especially becoming more cautious in issuing common stock when MSTR's mNAV approaches 1x. This means when the stock has a high premium, the company can continue issuing shares for financing; when the premium narrows or the market undervalues the company, it can instead buy back shares. In other words, Strategy aims to establish a two-way switchable capital management mechanism: raise funds when overvalued, and repurchase when undervalued.

Of course, similar to the preferred stock buyback, this $1 billion authorization merely provides management with more operational flexibility and does not mean Strategy will immediately start buying back stock. At the same time, Strategy also explicitly stated that common stock buybacks will not use USD reserve funds. If future BTC sales are needed to fund buybacks, they must also be managed within the BTC Monetization Plan.

Bitcoin Monetization Plan: Simply Selling BTC

Clearly, this is the most controversial content in the entire announcement – to put it mildly, "monetization"; to put it bluntly, "selling coins."

According to the announcement, the board has formally approved a BTC Monetization Program, authorizing the company to sell a portion of its BTC holdings for three main purposes:

• First, to establish USD reserves of up to $1.25 billion;
• Second, when management deems selling BTC more advantageous than issuing common stock, to pay preferred stock dividends and debt interest, or to supplement USD reserves;
• Third, to fund preferred and common stock buybacks, including related taxes and transaction costs.

Strategy also emphasized that this authorization does not necessarily mean BTC will be sold. Sales decisions will still consider factors such as market conditions, liquidity needs, tax and accounting implications, and long-term shareholder value.

Nevertheless, this is a noteworthy change. Over the past few years, Michael Saylor has repeatedly emphasized Strategy's long-term holding philosophy, and the market has generally viewed it as the ultimate "buy-and-hold" whale. Because of this, the market has long assumed Strategy has only one source of cash – continuously issuing stock, preferred stock, and convertible bonds, using the proceeds to buy more BTC.

Earlier this month, Strategy sold a portion of its BTC holdings for the first time, albeit only 32 BTC, which the company stated was for "proactive market desensitization testing." However, this announcement means selling BTC has been formally integrated into the company's capital management toolkit.

Nevertheless, Strategy continues to emphasize BTC's status as a "core reserve asset." BTC monetization is more of a liquidity management tool than a trading strategy. In other words, the company is not preparing to profit from high-frequency trading or market timing, but rather adding a new funding source when financing costs are too high, market conditions are unfavorable, or when buybacks or replenishing cash reserves offer better value.

From a capital allocation perspective, this choice is not necessarily bad and may even be more rational. Of course, for the market, this change means a long-held perception needs to be adjusted. In the past, investors almost defaulted on the assumption that Strategy would continuously buy BTC, making it one of the most important marginal buyers in the Bitcoin market. In the future, while the company's core strategy remains long-term BTC holding, the BTC on its balance sheet is no longer just a "never-sell reserve asset" but has become a strategic asset that can participate in capital management under specific conditions.

Market Reaction: BTC Remains Steady, MSTR & STRC Surge

Following the announcement of Strategy's plan, BTC did not experience significant volatility. It briefly rose slightly then quickly fell back to its original level, currently still trading around $60,000.

For Strategy, both its common stock MSTR and preferred stock STRC saw significant pre-market gains. As of 9:00 PM tonight, MSTR was trading at $86.74 pre-market, up 5.38%; STRC was trading at $80.9 pre-market, up 8.49%.

Clearly, the market holds a relatively positive outlook on Strategy's self-rescue plan. While confirming the sale of more BTC will inevitably attract controversy, the current de-pegging of STRC and its impact on Strategy's business model is a more pressing issue, and more important than maintaining the "diamond hands" persona.

Moving forward, whether this capital management framework can truly help STRC return to par value and reopen Strategy's financing cycle will be the market's primary focus.