A new class of crypto treasury companies is emerging, centered around Strategy's high-yield stock, STRC. This security, issued by the largest publicly traded holder of bitcoin, Strategy, serves as a funding vehicle to support its ongoing bitcoin accumulation. The company offers investors an annualized dividend of 11.5%, paid monthly in cash, with proceeds primarily used to purchase BTC.
The stock's popularity surged, registering a record-breaking trading volume on Tuesday with more than $1.6 billion in shares changing hands. As volumes climb, numerous companies and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols are accumulating STRC to capture its yield while gaining indirect exposure to bitcoin. STRC is now being used as a base layer for new financial products incorporating leverage, tokenization, and structured yield.
Specific examples include Saturn Credit, a bitcoin-backed yield platform, which accumulated $15 million in STRC within six days of launch. Similarly, the onchain credit protocol Apyx has built a position of 800,000 shares after a recent 200,000 share purchase, with plans to become one of the largest holders. BitStrategy's co-founder, Ryan McGinnis, stated the firm aims to accumulate Strategy securities with the long-term goal of becoming the world's largest Strategy shareholder.
On-chain, nearly $200 million in tokenized STRC now exists on Ethereum, with close to $100 million trading on the DeFi platform Pendle, which allows users to trade and separate yield from underlying assets.
In a recent market move, STRC dropped to $99.39 during Wednesday's pre-market trading, falling below its $100 par value. This decline occurred after the stock went "ex-dividend," meaning new buyers are no longer eligible for the upcoming dividend payment. As a result, the company will temporarily halt selling new shares through its at-the-market (ATM) program while the price remains below par.
