Strategy Adds 535 Bitcoin to Its Treasury as Stock Sales Fund the $43 Million Purchase

Strategy adds 535 Bitcoin at $80,340 each, funded primarily via equity. Preferred stock demand wanes, threatening its 1M BTC target. Shares rise 4.5% but remain 57% below peak.

The digital-asset playbook at Strategy is getting another page-turn. The company, which has transformed itself into a leveraged bet on Bitcoin, disclosed the acquisition of 535 coins for approximately $43 million, snapping a short buying pause and sending its shares 4.5% higher to €166.16. The purchase, executed between May 4 and May 10 at an average price of $80,340 per Bitcoin, lifts the total hoard to 818,869 BTC — a 22% increase since the start of the year.

Financing for the latest addition relied almost entirely on equity issuance, with 99.77% of the $42.9 million purchase price coming from the sale of shares. A small top-up came from the company’s “Stretch Preferred” program. That capital-markets dependence is a double-edged sword: demand for those STRCP preferred instruments faded noticeably in May compared with April, raising questions about whether the funding machine can sustain the pace needed to hit management’s stated goal of one million Bitcoin by 2026. To reach that target, Strategy would need to buy roughly 24,151 BTC per month.

The market’s immediate response was a relief rally, but the stock remains 57.59% below its 52-week high and 9.78% below the 200-day moving average. The relative strength index of 64.7 suggests the rally has already warmed the name up, while the 30-day annualized volatility of 71.34% underlines the nerve-jangling reality of holding a Bitcoin proxy. Over the past 30 days, the shares have still gained 48.17% in euro terms, and the year-to-date advance stands at 23.82%.

That volatility has a real cost. Under the new FASB accounting rules, Bitcoin’s 23% slide in the first quarter forced Strategy to book an unrealized loss of $12.54 billion. The BTC yield — a measure of the growth in Bitcoin per share — came in at 9.4%. Meanwhile, the company’s legacy software business recorded its strongest quarterly revenue growth in a decade, a bright spot that often gets overshadowed by the crypto narrative.

Institutional interest remains resilient: the Bank of New York Mellon recently increased its stake. Yet the financing conundrum is becoming more acute. At the most recent earnings call, management signaled that limited Bitcoin sales could be used to fund dividends, taxes or debt, but stressed that any such sales should remain “immaterial” relative to the total position. The firm’s stated target is to buy 10 to 20 new Bitcoins for every one it sells. With the preferred-stock channel losing some momentum, the balance between share dilution and accumulation will be the defining tension for investors in the weeks ahead.