Strategy initiated open-market repurchases of STRC last week, from July 20 through July 26, 2026, buying 288,930 shares for about $25 million at an average price of $86.52. The company bought no Bitcoin during the period and continued to increase its cash reserve.

That raises a basic question: why is the largest Bitcoin treasury company buying back its credit?

Context

In June 2026, STRC fell well below its $100 stated amount. For more detailed background on what happened, see Crash Post Mortem – What Happened to STRC in June 2026 and The Sixth Lever.

Last week’s STRC repurchases followed Strategy’s Digital Credit Capital Framework, announced on June 29 in response to the June volatility. The framework authorized up to $1 billion of repurchases across STRC, STRF, STRD, and STRK. Because STRC is now viewed as Strategy’s flagship product, it was identified as the initial priority for these buybacks.

The logic begins with MSTR common stock within Strategy’s capital structure. Common equity receives only the residual value after every senior claim has been satisfied. Strategy’s BTC and cash are its liquid assets, while debt and preferred stock sit ahead of MSTR. Strategy’s USD Reserve, meaning cash, offsets part of those senior claims. As a result, the common stock represents what is left after subtracting debt and preferred stock from the bitcoin reserve and then adding back available cash.

That is effectively the company’s recently introduced “Net Bitcoin Per Share” metric. Under Strategy’s current methodology, Net BTC is calculated by taking bitcoin holdings and subtracting the bitcoin-equivalent value of out-of-the-money convertible debt, other debt-like instruments, and outstanding perpetual preferred stock, then adding back the USD Reserve. In other words, this is the same residual-value concept described above.

Net BTC is divided by fully diluted common shares to produce Net BPS. Strategy’s disclosures mark July 23 as the boundary for its revised mNAV methodology, which uses Net BPS as its denominator.

The metric gives MSTR investors a direct view of the BTC economically attributable to common equity after senior claims are accounted for. Gross Bitcoin Per Share can increase when Strategy issues more preferred stock or debt to buy bitcoin. Net Bitcoin Per Share captures the liability created alongside that bitcoin purchase, answering the question of how much bitcoin remains for common shareholders after more senior investors in the capital structure are paid.

For corporate treasurers and equity holders alike, that distinction matters because the same financing action can look very different depending on whether it is measured before or after senior claims. Net BPS therefore provides a framework for measuring whether capital markets transactions are accretive or dilutive to MSTR. It is another metric investors may evaluate alongside the existing measures already in use.

Why STRC buybacks?

The answer is that retiring liabilities at prices below their notional values is accretive on a net BTC basis.

Consider a simple balance sheet example. Suppose a company owns $100 million of BTC and carries $50 million of senior liabilities. Common equity is then a $50 million residual claim:

$100 million assets – $50 million liabilities = $50 million equity

Now suppose the company can retire those $50 million of liabilities for $40 million. It uses $40 million of assets, leaving $60 million of assets and no remaining liabilities. The common equity residual rises from $50 million to $60 million:

$60 million assets – $0 liabilities = $60 million equity

In this case, spending $40 million to eliminate a $50 million claim creates $10 million of value for the residual owner, the common equity investor.

The STRC repurchase works the same way. Strategy paid an average of $86.52 to retire a security with a $100 stated amount. Each repurchased share removed $100 from the preferred stock claim used in the company’s Net BTC calculation while consuming only $86.52 of capital. The $13.48 difference creates gross accretion to MSTR.

Strategy retired $28.893 million of STRC stated amount for about $24.998 million, based on the reported average price. The difference is approximately $3.895 million, and that value accrues to MSTR.

It is also worth noting that STRC currently carries a 12% annualized dividend rate. Retiring $28.893 million of STRC stated amount also removes roughly $3.47 million of annual dividend requirements. And because STRC remains well below $100, the company would likely raise the dividend, meaning the actual annual dividend expense removed is likely higher.

Conclusion

Net BTC identifies the residual BTC owned by the common stock after accounting for the senior liabilities ahead of it. The STRC buyback is a form of financial engineering designed to improve the company’s Net BTC per share metric.

Disclaimer: This content was prepared on behalf of Bitcoin For Corporations for informational purposes only. It reflects the author’s own analysis and opinion and should not be relied upon as investment advice. Nothing in this article constitutes an offer, invitation, or solicitation to purchase, sell, or subscribe for any security or financial product.

This post first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Allard Peng.