Wall Street's biggest fundraisers this year read like a who's who of the future: a rocket company, Google's parent and America's most famous chipmaker.
And then, according to its CEO, there's <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/mizuho-issues-latest-call-on-michael-saylors-strategy-stock" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Strategy</a> (Nasdaq: MSTR), a company that used to sell business software and now mostly buys Bitcoin (BTC).
Strategy ranks fourth among U.S. companies raising money by selling stock in 2026, behind only SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX), Alphabet (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTL), CEO Phong Le <a href="https://x.com/phongle/status/2117609848145613264" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">wrote</a> on X. He added that Strategy was No. 1 in 2025 and No. 2 in 2024.
<blockquote>
 "The AI investment cycle is massive. So is the Bitcoin capital cycle," Le wrote.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
 The AI investment cycle is massive. So is the Bitcoin capital cycle. Strategy was the #1 U.S. equity issuer in 2025 and is #4 in 2026 YTD, behind only SpaceX, Alphabet, and Intel. <a href="https://t.co/BZtk7HDcpC" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pic.twitter.com/BZtk7HDcpC</a>— Phong Le (@phongle) <a href="https://x.com/phongle/status/2117609848145613264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">November 3, 2026</a>
</blockquote>
<h2 id="what-equity-issuer-means">What 'equity issuer' means</h2>
When a company issues equity, it sells new shares to investors in exchange for cash. Most companies do it to raise capital to build factories, hire employees, or develop products.
SpaceX builds rockets. Alphabet builds AI. Intel builds chips.
Strategy builds a pile of Bitcoin.
For a sense of the company Strategy is keeping, SpaceX raised $75 billion in June in the largest IPO ever. The deal valued Elon Musk's rocket and AI company at about $1.77 trillion, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/view-musks-spacex-raises-75-billion-largest-ipo-ever-2026-06-11/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Reuters</a> reported.
Strategy's haul is smaller but still eye-popping. The company has raised about $21 billion from selling shares so far this year, it said in its third-quarter <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001050446/000105044626000047/mstr-20261029x8kxex9912.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">results</a>&nbsp;released last week, and has spent $14.33 billion buying Bitcoin.
That pile is now enormous.&nbsp;
Strategy holds 849,327 Bitcoin, bought for about $64 billion in total, according to a <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001050446/000119312526442707/mstr-20261102.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">filing</a> on Monday. That's roughly 4% of all the Bitcoin that will ever <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/michael-saylors-strategy-buys-950-bitcoin-now-holds-846000" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">exist</a>.
Strategy bought another 811 Bitcoin last week, paying an average of $80,846 per coin, Monday's filing showed.
The timing wasn't perfect. Bitcoin traded near $77,000 on Tuesday. Across its whole stash, though, Strategy's average cost is $75,451 per coin, so its giant bet is still slightly in the green.
Cofounder and executive chairman Michael Saylor, who is among Bitcoin's loudest cheerleaders, isn't worried.
<blockquote>
 "We're at the beginning of the next bitcoin bull market," he <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/live-microstrategy-q3-2026-earnings-call" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">remarked</a>.
</blockquote>
<figure>
 <figcaption>
 MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor speaks at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention. 
 Source: Getty Images
 </figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="how-the-money-machine-works">How the money machine works</h2>
Strategy raises cash in two main ways.
The first is selling its regular common shares, known by the ticker MSTR. This works best when investors pay more for Strategy's stock than the Bitcoin behind each share is worth.
The second is preferred stock, a kind of hybrid between a stock and a bond. Buyers get regular dividend payments, much like interest, and get paid before ordinary shareholders. But they usually don't get a vote. Strategy sells several of these with names that might sound like a gym class: Stretch, Strike, Stride and Strife.
Saylor has <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/michael-saylor-reveals-why-strategy-sold-bitcoin-and-why-critics-are-wrong" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">described</a> the business as a company that sells credit to investors and uses the cash to buy Bitcoin.
That credit isn't free. Strategy's preferred dividends cost about $1.76 billion a <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/saylors-strategy-faces-its-toughest-q2-earnings-as-bitcoin-crashes-50-from-all-time-highs" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">year</a>.
<h3 id="more-on-thestreet-roundtable">More on TheStreet Roundtable</h3>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/elon-musks-tesla-and-spacex-protest-nyse-parents-new-plan" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX protest NYSE parent's new plan</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/elon-musks-tesla-and-spacex-protest-nyse-parents-new-plan" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Nvidia’s new 51% rule could shut China’s backdoor to AI chips</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/cftc-opens-u-s-stocks-to-crypto-style-futures-that-never-expire" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CFTC opens U.S. stocks to crypto-style futures that never expire</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="the-year-never-sell-got-complicated">The year 'never sell' got complicated</h2>
For years, Saylor's message to the world was simple: never sell your Bitcoin.
Then 2026 happened.&nbsp;
As Bitcoin slid from its October 2025 record, Strategy made its first Bitcoin sale since 2022 in May, and then sold 3,588 coins for about $216 million in late June and early <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/michael-saylors-strategy-sells-bitcoin-again" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">July</a>.
Saylor later explained that "never sell" was advice for regular people holding Bitcoin, not a rule for how a company like Strategy manages its money.
The buying resumed soon after, and the company is now back near its record stash.
<h2 id="same-league-different-game">Same league, different game</h2>
Le's comparison is bold, but the money is real.
Investors handed Strategy about as much cash this year as some of the biggest names in tech.
The difference is what that cash becomes. SpaceX's money turns into rockets, Alphabet's into data centers. Strategy's money turns into Bitcoin, and its fortunes rise and fall with it.
<h2 id="the-roundtable-100">The Roundtable 100</h2>
If you follow our market coverage, don’t miss the <a href="https://roundtable100.com/tab/rankings" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Roundtable 100</a>. Updated every Friday, it's a power ranking of the 100 most investable tech stocks, including digital assets. Check out the latest <a href="https://roundtable100.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">RTB 100</a> rankings at <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">roundtable100.com</a>.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/musk-could-miss-his-1-trillion-payday-but-gain-control-of-a-2-billion-bitcoin-stash" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Musk could miss his $1 trillion payday but gain control of a $2 billion Bitcoin stash</a>

Strategy CEO puts his Bitcoin firm alongside SpaceX, Alphabet

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