Saylor Estimates Strategy Can Create $10 Billion to $30 Billion in Digital Credit
Key Facts
Michael Saylor, Strategy’s former chief executive and chairman, said the company could create between $10 billion and $30 billion in digital credit with its current capital structure, without raising additional capital through common stock or needing bitcoin’s price to rise. Saylor cited the figure during the third-quarter earnings call on October 29, 2026, as potential funding capacity, not completed issuance proceeds or guaranteed financing. He said issuing digital credit, including preferred stock and other instruments, would be the primary route to increasing bitcoin holdings. He added that the company could allocate the funding between its dollar reserve and cryptocurrency purchases. The proposal puts preferred financing instruments at the center of its plan to continue increasing its holdings, while keeping common stock issuance as an option tied to market conditions.
Saylor described a possible funding mechanism, saying the company could raise $1 billion or $2 billion a month through its Stretch instrument, then put some of the funds into its dollar reserve and use the rest to buy bitcoin. In describing the mechanism, he cited an annual distribution of 12% on the instrument. The structure shows that the proposed financing includes a distribution obligation, alongside allocating some of the proceeds to the reserve. Saylor said issuing MSTR shares to buy bitcoin could happen if mNAV expanded sharply and a suitable opportunity emerged. But he said digital credit was the main route to increasing the amount of bitcoin per share. Management thus tied the use of common stock to valuation conditions, while keeping credit instruments as the primary option.
Saylor said the digital credit market had 6 issuers and was worth $16 billion, and that Strategy expected it to eventually expand to tens or hundreds of billions. He outlined the company’s goal of doubling the amount of bitcoin per share over 7 years using this type of financing. As for holdings, Strategy reported owning 848,517 bitcoin as of October 25, up 26% since the start of 2026. It said it had bought $14.33 billion of bitcoin from the start of the year through that date. It also raised $21.23 billion in capital over the same period and described itself as the fourth-largest equity issuer in the United States. These figures place Saylor’s stated funding capacity within an expansion in financing and purchases already under way.
Management said treasury assets totaled about $74 billion on October 23, including $68.9 billion in bitcoin and $5.1 billion in dollar assets. The cash reserve gives the company a resource separate from its cryptocurrency holdings, while most of its treasury assets remain tied to bitcoin’s value. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Kang said the company’s holdings recorded a $21 billion fair-value gain during the third quarter. MSTR shares rose 76% in the quarter, compared with a 43% increase in bitcoin, according to the company’s results. Strategy reported net income of $19.53 billion and diluted earnings per share of $44.75, compared with net income of $2.79 billion and diluted earnings per share of $8.42 in the third quarter of 2025. The comparison reflects a sharp year-over-year increase in reported earnings, alongside gains recorded on bitcoin holdings.
The stock reaction on October 29 was negative: MSTR closed down 2.44% at $141.62, then fell a further 4.07% in after-hours trading to $135.86. Bitcoin closed at $77,991.89 that day, according to EL7 data. The decline came after the third-quarter results were announced, despite the company reporting net income and earnings per share above the year-earlier period. Revenue, however, was $125.43 million, below analysts’ estimates of $128.03 million. The figures present a mixed picture of the results: substantial gains in the value of holdings and high reported earnings, alongside revenue below expectations and a drop in the stock. The available data does not include a direct explanation from investors for the stock’s move.
On distributions, Strategy announced that daily distributions on STRC would begin on November 1, 2026, with daily distributions on STRF, STRK and STRD set to begin on January 1, 2027. The company said the third-quarter earnings call would begin at about 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on October 29, and that an archived recording would be available about two hours after the call ended. The distribution dates form part of the instruments Saylor described as digital credit that the company aims to use to increase its bitcoin holdings. MSTR share issuance would remain a possibility if mNAV expanded sharply, according to Saylor. He set the goal of doubling bitcoin per share over 7 years. These dates and the stated goal outline the next steps management presented to shareholders.