2026

Bitcoin

Summit

would

Retail investors dominate Strategy’s “Stretch” shares, which have been used to acquire over $1 billion worth of Bitcoin this year.
Roughly 80% of STRC holders are retail investors, according to CEO Phong Le, who said on Wednesday that these investors “prefer low-volatility, high-yield digital credit.”
“Retail investors prefer low-volatility, high-yield digital credit,” he added.
The figure suggests that retail investors are still interested in exposure to Bitcoin, even though it is down about 45% from its all-time high.&nbsp;
Strategy’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, has been stepping up sales and marketing of Stretch following the drop in Bitcoin and the company's stock, pitching the shares as a way to gain exposure to BTC without the volatility.&nbsp;
In March, Strategy used around $1.2 billion from at-the-market sales of STRC to buy Bitcoin, though it switched back to using the sale of common stock in its <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/strategy-buys-1031-bitcoin-buy-77-million-mstr-sales" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">most recent buy</a>.&nbsp;
“Normally, the hardest thing in the world to do is to sell a new credit instrument to a retail investor,” Saylor said Thursday at the 2026 Digital Asset Summit in New York.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
 “11% is a big number.” “Am I offending you if I call it a money market fund?” - <a href="https://twitter.com/SullyCNBC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@SullyCNBC</a> Digital Credit is redefining yield. Today we discussed Stretch <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24STRC&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$STRC</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/PowerLunch?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@PowerLunch</a>. <a href="https://t.co/oirw3PGZBi" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pic.twitter.com/oirw3PGZBi</a>— Michael Saylor (@saylor) <a href="https://twitter.com/saylor/status/2037270676529160436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">March 26, 2026</a>
</blockquote>
Speaking on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on Thursday, Saylor <a href="https://x.com/saylor/status/2037270676529160436" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said</a>, “The idea is to create an onramp for people who believe Bitcoin is going to be around for the long term, but they can't handle the volatility in the near term.”&nbsp;
He added that Stretch strips the first 10% to 11% of annual Bitcoin (<a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>) returns and passes it to the credit investor. STRC is “way overcollateralized,” but Strategy is betting that Bitcoin will rise more than 11% per year, and “our equity holders are going to make a fortune,” while credit investors are happy with 11%, he said.
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/markets/strategy-halts-bitcoin-buying-via-strc-will-btc-price-dip-again" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Strategy halts Bitcoin buying via STRC: Will BTC price dip again?</a>
Strategy’s common stock (MSTR) is down 19% this year and almost 71% from its July 2025 all-time high of $456, <a href="https://www.google.com/finance/quote/MSTR:NASDAQ?window=1Y" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">according</a> to Google Finance. The Stretch shares, meanwhile, pay annual dividends of about 11.5%, higher than US Treasurys, which currently yield about 4%.
The investments are perpetual derivatives, meaning they do not have a maturity date, so <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/strategy-1-6-billion-bitcoin-buy-holdings-top-761k-btc" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Strategy</a> never has to pay investors back like a bond, and they can be held indefinitely, earning dividends. The dividend rate is variable and adjusts monthly with market conditions.
The goal of these adjustments is to keep the trading price anchored near $100, making it behave more like a high-yield savings account than a volatile stock or crypto asset.&nbsp;
<h2 id="saylor-looks-to-double-down-on-stretch">Saylor looks to double down on Stretch</h2>
In February, the company said it would <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/strategy-ceo-preferred-stock-fund-bitcoin-buys" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">rely more</a> on its preferred stock sales to acquire Bitcoin.
It went further this week, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/strategy-44-billion-plan-fund-bitcoin-buys" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">revealing plans</a> in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday to raise up to $21 billion by selling Strategy stock and another $21 billion from Stretch through new at-the-market programs.&nbsp;
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph-magazine.com/dirty-secret-quantum-signatures-no-one-knows/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Nobody knows if quantum secure cryptography will even work</a>

80% of Strategy's ‘Stretch’ buyers are mom-and-pop investors

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