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Strategy (MSTR) drew fresh Wall Street support on Monday after Benchmark's Mark Palmer and TD Cowen's Lance Vitanza and Jonnathan Navarrete both defended the durability of the company's bitcoin treasury strategy, pushing back on a circulating "death spiral" narrative as BTC dipped toward $60,000 before rebounding above $66,000.
The catalyst for the debate: Strategy sold 32 BTC for roughly $2.5 million between May 26 and May 31 — its first bitcoin sale since beginning accumulation in December 2022 — at an average price of $77,135 per coin, proceeds earmarked for STRC preferred-share dividends. The same day, the company disclosed a fresh purchase of 1,587 BTC for about $100 million at an average $63,024, lifting total holdings to 846,842 BTC.
Why it matters
Palmer's note zeroes in on the sequencing critics skip. "Before any meaningful bitcoin sale by Strategy, it would need to run through the $1 billion cash reserve it has in place to fund dividend payments," he wrote, adding that the company's perpetual preferred stocks carry no hard maturity that could force accelerated selling. In other words, the death-spiral story requires a chain of failures — a dividend shortfall, a credit event, a sustained BTC drawdown — each of which would have to clear before the 846,842 BTC reserve, now valued near $55 billion, would even enter the conversation.
TD Cowen went further on the structure itself, framing STRC — a perpetual preferred trading near $100 with a variable dividend currently around 11.5% annualized — as having "materially dampened volatility across drawdowns, offering positive or near-flat returns even during periods when BTC experienced significant declines." That characterisation puts STRC in the capital-preservation bucket rather than the high-volatility growth bucket, a distinction that matters for any fund writing the cheque.
Market impact
Strategy's twice-monthly STRC dividend cadence, rolled out by CEO Phong Le to "stabilize price, dampen cyclicality, drive liquidity, and grow demand," is the operational expression of that model.
Frequently asked questions
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Why is Strategy (MSTR) in the news today?
Wall Street analysts from Benchmark and TD Cowen restated buy ratings on Strategy on Monday, pushing back against a circulating "death spiral" narrative as bitcoin dipped toward $60,000 before rebounding above $66,000.
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Did Strategy actually sell bitcoin?
Yes — Strategy sold 32 BTC for roughly $2.5 million between May 26 and May 31 at an average price of $77,135 per coin, its first bitcoin sale since beginning accumulation in December 2022. The proceeds were used to fund STRC preferred-share dividends.
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How much bitcoin does Strategy hold now?
After its May 31 disclosure of a 1,587 BTC purchase for approximately $100 million at an average $63,024, Strategy's total holdings stand at 846,842 BTC, valued near $55 billion at recent prices.
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What is STRC and why does it matter?
STRC is Strategy's perpetual preferred share, designed to trade near $100 with a variable monthly dividend currently around 11.5% annualized. Because it has no hard maturity, it cannot trigger a forced liquidation event the way a maturing bond might — which is central to the analyst rebuttal of the death-spiral thesis.
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What is the 'death spiral' argument against Strategy?
Critics argue that if STRC dividends became uncovered, a negative feedback loop could force massive bitcoin sales to meet obligations, collapsing the stock. Benchmark and TD Cowen counter that Strategy's roughly $1 billion cash reserve and the preferred's lack of a hard maturity put that scenario several failures away…
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