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Strategy, the world’s largest crypto treasury company, said it will pause its regular bitcoin (BTC) purchases this week ahead of its first-quarter earnings report.
“No buys this week. Back to work next week,” Strategy Founder and Chairman Michael Saylor wrote on social media platform X on Sunday.
The company’s pause marks its second break in weekly purchases this year. Strategy previously paused buying during the week of March 23 to March 29.
As of Sunday, Strategy held 818,334 BTC, representing nearly 3.9% of bitcoin’s 21 million total supply. Its acquisition last week added 3,273 BTC to its holdings at an average price of $77,906 per bitcoin.
Bitcoin was trading at $80,101 as of 10:50 p.m. ET on Sunday, up 20% over the prior 30 days, according to The Block’s bitcoin price page.
Strategy is scheduled to release its first-quarter earnings on Tuesday. Wall Street analysts expect a loss of $18.98 per share, according to Yahoo Finance. In the first quarter of 2025, the company reported a loss of $16.38 per share.
Strategy’s bitcoin acquisitions are typically funded using proceeds from at-the-market sales of its Class A common stock (MSTR) and perpetual preferred stocks. One of those perpetual preferred shares, STRC, has drawn scrutiny from analysts and investors due to its high annual dividend rate.
STRC is designed to trade near $100 while paying a variable monthly dividend, currently around 11.5% annualized.
K33 Head of Research Vetle Lunde wrote in a March report that the growing link between Strategy’s aggressive bitcoin accumulation and STRC introduces structural risks tied to market sentiment and pricing dynamics.
Lunde said STRC holders face capped upside through dividends but potential downside during market drawdowns. He added that if STRC trades below its target level for an extended period, it could shift toward a more credit-like risk profile rather than a stable-yield product.
Other analysts have been more direct in their criticism, with some describing STRC as a “Ponzi scheme” that could eventually lead to a “death spiral.”
Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer, however, pushed back on the criticism. Palmer described STRC as part of a “deliberate and durable” model that “converts demand for yield into long-term bitcoin exposure.”
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