Strategy spent $204.9 million repurchasing STRC preferred shares and sold no common stock. Strive bought about $511 million of bitcoin and set up a program to sell up to $1 billion of 15% preferred. Shares of both fell on a rising day for stocks.
The largest corporate buyers of crypto went in different directions last week, and Monday's filings show who is now doing the buying, and at what cost.
Strategy said in a filing on Monday that it did not buy or sell any bitcoin from Oct. 19 to 25, and did not sell any shares under its at-the-market program. Instead, it spent $204.9 million repurchasing 2,068,459 shares of its STRC preferred stock. That left its "USD Cash" balance at $242.4 million. A separate reserve, which the company calls its USD Reserve, stood at $4.83 billion.
Strategy holds about 848,517 bitcoin, bought for $64.02 billion at an average of about $75,446 each. At Monday's price of about $80,007, that average cost is about 6% below the market, and the holding is worth about $67.9 billion.
The smaller buyer stepped up
Strive moved the other way. It bought 6,182 bitcoin between Oct. 17 and 23 at an average of about $82,732 each including fees, roughly $511 million in total, lifting its holdings to 43,000 from 36,818. Its cash balance still rose, to $504.4 million from $317.5 million. Its filing shows 7 million shares of its new 15% SATS preferred outstanding as of Oct. 23, up from none a week earlier, and about 3.3 million more Class A shares, so the purchases appear to have been funded mainly with new stock, much of it the 15% preferred.
The same morning, Strive set up a program to sell up to $1 billion of that 15% Series A perpetual preferred, known as SATS, into the market over time.
At Monday's price, Strive's purchases from last week are about 3.3% under water.
Ether treasury company Bitmine added 10,452 ether, bringing its holdings to 6,051,933, or about 4.95% of the supply figure the company uses, and said it was also buying back its own shares.
The market's response
None of the three stocks benefited from a firm day for equities. In early afternoon trading, Strategy was down 3.62% at $140.72, Strive 5.79% at $27.29 and Bitmine 5% at $21.28, while the S&P 500 rose 0.66% and bitcoin was roughly flat.
What the shift says
The common thread is the cost of capital. Strategy's model has relied on selling its own common stock to buy bitcoin. Last week it sold none, and used cash to buy back one of its preferred securities instead. Strive is still buying, and the funding behind it carries a 15% coupon.
Strategy gave no reason for the pause, and it has not said that it has stopped buying. One week without purchases does not by itself establish a change in approach, and the company holds a special shareholder meeting on Oct. 28 and reports third-quarter results on Oct. 29.
Two readings
One reading is that this is balance-sheet housekeeping. Strategy is defending its preferred stack ahead of the Fed decision, Strive is still adding bitcoin at scale, and the corporate bid has not disappeared.
The other is that the engine is slowing. The largest buyer used its cash on its own securities rather than on bitcoin, the most active new buyer is paying 15% for funding, and the shares of all three companies fell on a day the market rose.
What to watch
Strategy's next weekly filing, its special meeting on Oct. 28 and results on Oct. 29, how quickly Strive draws on its SATS program, and whether bitcoin holds near $80,000 through the Fed decision.