Ponzi or Not, The Market Is Drinking Saylor’s Kool-Aid by The Billions

Michael Saylor’s Strategy hoovered up 34,164 Bitcoin last week. Two and a half billion dollars at an average price of $74,395. It was their third-largest single-week buy in history. Total treasury now sits at 815,061 BTC, which officially makes Strategy a larger Bitcoin holder than BlackRock’s IBIT[1]. They’re also tantalizingly close to one million Bitcoin. But amongst all this is a far more interesting aspect to me. 2.18 billion of that $2.54 billion raise, about 85%, came from sales of STRC[2]. And STRC, depending on who you ask, is either the future of fixed income or a slow-motion Ponzi waiting to implode. So, which is it? STRC, or ‘Stretch,’ is Strategy’s perpetual preferred stock. It provides a variable dividend, currently 11.5% annually, paid monthly. It has no maturity date and no redemption rights. You hand over your cash, Strategy hands you a paper IOU that pays a yield, and Saylor uses your money to buy more Bitcoin. Critics, led most publicly by YouTuber Coffeezilla (whose 18-minute STRC takedown racked up 800,000 views in a day), have a list of problems with it. Saylor calls it ‘a bank that pays you 10% interest’ and suggested it ‘for your family treasury’ on an earnings call. There’s even an AI-generated ad showing a retired engineer collecting 11% a year from a beach… When Starlink completes its global takeover… It's set to connect 3 billion people who've never had reliable internet. That's the biggest connectivity explosion in human history. Wall Street is focused on SpaceX. But the smartest money is looking at a backdoor play almost no one's talking about. A Potential IPO company already positioned to profit from every single new Starlink user — in 170 countries — before they ever go public. And if you act fast, you can invest now at $0.50/share. Click here for the full details But don't wait. Their last round sold out with 59,000+ total investors. Once word spreads — it could be too late.* Click here before this round closes. Trouble is, STRC isn’t a bank, isn’t a money market, and isn’t insured. Strategy’s own filings admit the company is ‘not required to hold any assets to back the STRC Stock.’ The dividend can be suspended at the board’s discretion. Strategy carries a junk B- credit rating from S&P. To keep the stock pegged near $100 par, Strategy has already hiked the dividend seven times since launch, from 9% to 11.5%[3]. Coffeezilla compared it to Terra Luna’s Anchor protocol, which paid 20% right up until it collapsed and vaporized billions. That comparison is a stretch (pun intended) because Luna was unbacked and algorithmic. STRC does have 815,000 Bitcoin sitting behind it[4]. Whatever Coffeezilla or anyone else might say about it all, the market is buying it, hand over fist. 21 million STRC shares moved in five trading days. $2.18 billion in capital, raised at 11.5% variable yield, against a B-credit, with zero obligation to pay the dividend. Strategy has nearly $20 billion in remaining STRC issuance capacity, plus another $26.7 billion of common stock ready to go[5]. Does the music stop? Is there even music playing? It looks and feels too good to be true, which is never a good sign in my experience. But then again, the retail and institutional appetite for Bitcoin exposure through a traditional-finance wrapper is off the charts. The market is thirsty for Bitcoinization instruments, and Saylor is the only guy selling them. And, worth noting, off the back of all this, as Bitcoin now creeps ever so close to $80,000, Strategy’s cost basis is $75,527 per coin. Every Bitcoin they hold is in profit. If Bitcoin goes to $1 million, my long-standing call, 815,061 BTC, becomes an $815 billion treasury. With MSTR currently trading at a modest premium to NAV and the STRC money machine still stacking sats all the way up, it’s reasonable to see MSTR at well over $1 trillion if Bitcoin rips to untold levels. Maybe after being the darling of 2024, MSTR is now the trade of 2026. Provided the music keeps playing, and provided nobody pulls the cord. Trust in crypto, Adam Atlantic [1] https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/04/20/strategy-buys-34-164-bitcoin-for-usd2-54-billion [2] https://cryptobriefing.com/strategy-buys-34164-btc-85-funded-by-strc-atm-sales/ [3] https://protos.com/strc-controversy-goes-mainstream/ [4] https://bitcointreasuries.net/news/coffeezilla-vs-the-bitcoin-community-the-strc-debate *Disclaimer: Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.modemobile.com. This is a paid advertisement for Mode Mobile’s Regulation A+ Offering. 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