Strategy, the Bitcoin treasury company formerly known as MicroStrategy, acquired 334 BTC for $28.7 million between October 1 and 4, taking its holdings to 848,000 BTC. Over the same stretch, it spent more than six times as much—$176.3 million—repurchasing its own preferred stock, according to a filing that also put its estimated third-quarter gain on digital assets at $20.91 billion.

The purchases averaged $85,838.80 per coin, and the new total marks a fresh record for the Bitcoin treasury company—the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin—coming a week after it passed its June peak. It bought nothing in the final three days of September. Strategy pioneered the corporate Bitcoin treasury model in 2020 under Executive Chairman and co-founder Michael Saylor.

The figures were disclosed in an official press release dated October 5 and announced on X:

Strategy reports a $21 billion gain on digital assets in Q3 2026. Last week, we acquired 334 $BTC and repurchased $176M of $STRC. As of 10/4/26, we hold 848,000 BTC and $5.7B of USD Assets. $MSTR

— Strategy (@Strategy) October 5, 2026 (on X)

Preferred stock buybacks

Against that backdrop, Strategy repurchased 1,033,168 Stretch (STRC) shares for $102.6 million in the last days of September, then bought back a further 740,634 shares for $73.7 million in the first four days of October—$176.3 million in all. Of that total, $154.1 million came from its USD Cash balance and $22.2 million from interest earned on cash and short-term investments. The preferred buyback program has $547.2 million left. STRC is one of the company's four preferred lines—the securities whose dividends the USD Reserve is set up to cover—and future filings will show how much of the remaining authorization is deployed.

Strategy also sold 92,894 MSTR shares for $15.7 million in net proceeds, all of which went into Bitcoin, with another $13 million drawn from USD Cash. None of its four preferred lines were sold through the at-the-market program during either window.

Reserve and cash positioning

The company's dollar balances are now split between a USD Reserve of $4.88 billion which covers preferred dividends and debt interest, and USD Cash of $833.4 million set aside for general purposes, including Bitcoin purchases. In the week to October 4, Strategy drew $142.5 million from the reserve to fund dividends and interest. The split matters because it lets a holder of 848,000 BTC meet fixed obligations from dollars rather than coin sales, and the $142.5 million drawn last week is the current reference point for the reserve's pace of use.

A $20.91 billion quarterly gain

The quarterly gain is the largest figure in the filing. Strategy marks its Bitcoin at fair value, so the $20.91 billion reflects price appreciation across the quarter rather than coins sold, and it carries $1.88 billion of associated deferred tax expense. The marking works in both directions—reported results move with the coin price in down quarters just as in up ones—and the deferred tax expense is an accounting charge recognized in the accounts ahead of any cash tax payment.

Strategy's average cost across the whole position is $75,440.70, and the coins it bought last week cost nearly 14% more than that. The company is adding Bitcoin above its own basis in small amounts while directing larger sums at a preferred stock that has traded below its $100 par value for months.

A broader pattern

The pattern is not confined to Strategy. The treasury model it opened in 2020 has since been taken up by public companies in several markets, and Metaplanet is one of them: the Japan-based Bitcoin treasury firm sold 10,000 BTC and bought back 11,000 during its own third quarter, a round trip staged to show credit rating agencies it could turn Bitcoin into cash on demand. Both companies are now spending as much attention on the credit side of the balance sheet as on accumulation.