Bitcoin remained above the $60,000 mark on Saturday, trading at $60,240.5, up 0.40% as of 04:37 ET (08:37 GMT). Market attention has concentrated on Strategy Inc.’s STRC perpetual preferred shares, which will trade ex-dividend on June 30 and face a monthly dividend-rate reset.
Shareholders who hold STRC before the ex-dividend date will be eligible to receive the first semi-monthly dividend payment of $0.48 per share on July 15. However, many market participants consider the dividend-rate reset that follows the ex-dividend date to be the more consequential event.
STRC is trading near $73, around 27% below its $100 par value, a level that pushes its effective yield to roughly 15%. The prevailing dividend rate on STRC is 11.5%, and some investors expect Strategy to increase that rate to better align the cash distribution with current market pricing.
The weakness in STRC has renewed scrutiny of Strategy’s capital-raising approach, which has relied heavily on issuing preferred stock to finance additional Bitcoin purchases. Brad Garlinghouse, chief executive of Ripple, said in a televised interview that he remains bullish on Bitcoin but criticized the preferred-stock funding model. He characterized the approach as financial engineering rather than a mechanism for sustainable value creation and cited STRC’s fall below par as evidence of diminished investor confidence in that funding path. He emphasized that his remarks targeted the financing method, not Bitcoin itself.
Strategy has accumulated approximately 844,000 Bitcoin at an average purchase price of roughly $75,600 per coin. With Bitcoin trading near $60,240, the company’s unrealized losses on those holdings have exceeded $13 billion, according to data cited from BitcoinTreasuries. That paper loss is larger than the entire market capitalization of several well-known cryptocurrencies, including Dogecoin, Cardano, Chainlink, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash, underscoring the scale of Strategy’s leveraged exposure to the largest crypto asset.
The market debate centers on whether Strategy should slow the pace of further Bitcoin acquisitions and build cash liquidity, given that lower prices for its preferred shares make accessing new capital more difficult. Some analysts argue for a temporary pause to strengthen the balance sheet; others maintain that the funding model, while less efficient at current pricing, remains operable and that ultimate returns will hinge on a recovery in Bitcoin’s price rather than on short-term movements in preferred-share valuations.
Traders and institutional investors appear to be weighing those dynamics alongside broader macroeconomic conditions and overall institutional demand. Bitcoin’s relative stability around the $60,000 level reflects that assessment process and the market’s focus on developments involving major corporate holders such as Strategy.
Broader crypto markets moved higher on relatively thin Saturday trading. Ether rose 1.50% to $1,580.66. BNB increased 0.67%, while XRP gained 2.43%. Solana and Cardano climbed 5.63% and 4.15%, respectively. Among meme and thematic tokens, Dogecoin edged up 1.43% and the token $TRUMP rose 2.92%.
As attention remains on the June 30 ex-dividend date for STRC and the accompanying dividend-rate reset, investors and analysts continue to track preferred-share pricing, Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings and unrealized losses, and how those factors could influence the company’s ability to raise capital going forward.