Strategy Targets 8 Billion Users With Bitcoin-Based Financial Products
Key Facts
Strategy CEO Phong Le said in an interview at the Money20/20 conference on November 6 that the company would continue to be the largest institutional holder of Bitcoin and that its products would be used by 8 billion people around the world. Le described the ambition this way: “We will be the Bitcoin bank of the world.” The vision focuses on building financial products and services based on Bitcoin, rather than on holding it alone. His remarks came during a session on the currency’s transition from a store of value to a foundation for income-generating securities and financial services, according to the official conference schedule. Le cited the STRC product as an example of this approach.
Le said the company held about 845,000 Bitcoin on its balance sheet at the time of the interview, describing it as the world’s largest Bitcoin owner. In results published on October 29, Strategy reported holdings of 848,517 Bitcoin as of October 25, up 26% since the start of 2026. The figures reflect two different periods: Le’s estimate in the interview, followed by the company’s disclosure of a specific balance at the end of October. Holdings had reached 846,000 Bitcoin on June 30, according to second-quarter results, after growing 11% from the previous quarter. These disclosures show the scale of the asset on which the company bases its positioning as a major institutional Bitcoin holder.
Strategy’s activities have not been limited to buying and holding the currency; Le said it is developing a range of perpetual preferred stock products built around the Bitcoin standard, including Stride, Stretch, Strife and Stream. According to the company’s pitch, these instruments offer a way to link financial products to Bitcoin through listed securities. Strategy said in its third-quarter results that the nominal value of its ten listed products in its “digital credit” business reached $16 billion as of October 29, adding that the business continued to grow. It also said it had purchased $14.33 billion worth of Bitcoin from the start of 2026 through the results announcement. The company is thus linking the expansion of its holdings with the development of a range of products tied to the currency.
Among the products Le cited was STRC, which Strategy described as a digital credit instrument. The interview summary said the product offers income at an annual rate of 12%, with volatility below 10, according to the wording in the interview. Strategy’s STRC information page sets the variable annual distribution rate for periods beginning in September 2026 at 12%, calculated on a nominal value of $100. The company says the rate is subject to change and cash distributions are not guaranteed. The figure is therefore tied to the product’s terms and its stated distribution rate, and does not represent a guaranteed fixed return.
Strategy announced that STRC distributions became daily effective November 1, 2026, while daily distributions for STRF, STRK and STRD begin on January 1, 2027. These dates place the distributions among the announced operational steps in the development of digital credit products. They follow third-quarter results that recorded a nominal value of $16 billion for ten listed securities in the business. The Money20/20 schedule indicates that STRC was an existing example of income-generating securities linked to Bitcoin. Le’s stated goal of having 8 billion people use the products remains a future ambition for the company, not a description of its current user base.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Strategy said it bought 1,036 Bitcoin between November 2 and 8, bringing its total holdings to 850,364 Bitcoin on November 8. This balance follows the 848,517 Bitcoin the company reported holding as of October 25, and reflects the subsequent purchases disclosed for the specified period. In the market, the company’s third-quarter comparison showed MSTR shares rising 76%, against a 43% gain for Bitcoin during the same quarter. MSTR shares closed at $111.62 in the November 13 session, according to EL7 data. That price alone does not provide a comparison of the stock’s performance with Bitcoin in that closing session.