Preferred stock has financed purchases of some 136,000 bitcoin, Fidelity says
Bitcoin treasury companies have raised enough through perpetual preferred stock to buy some 136,000 bitcoin — more than 0.5% of the cryptocurrency's maximum supply — in the 20 months since the securities were introduced, Fidelity research analyst Zack Wainwright wrote in a Tuesday report. Fidelity puts the bitcoin-focused preferred market at roughly $12 billion, a sliver of the $150 trillion global fixed-income market.
The structure is the point. Preferred shares sit between debt and common equity, pay regular dividends and carry no voting rights or fixed maturity, letting issuers such as Strategy and Strive raise cash without refinancing pressure while drawing investors who want yield rather than direct bitcoin exposure. "Perpetual preferreds have brought bitcoin to income investors, a group that ETFs never reached," said Mark Palmer, a senior equity research analyst at StoneX.
The cost is recurring. CoinShares head of research James Butterfill said Strategy's STRC, which pays a variable dividend currently around 12%, raised $7.5 billion during 2026 through late July, and every new share adds to the dividend bill. Strategy's latest weekly update showed $193 million spent repurchasing STRC against purchases of just 267 bitcoin, Butterfill said, and the company increased its preferred-stock repurchase authorization to $3 billion. "Buybacks can reduce future dividend costs, but they compete with bitcoin purchases for capital today," he said.
Price matters as much as yield. Two Prime founder and chief executive Alex Blume noted that STRC briefly traded in the $70 range in late June before recovering to about $99.40, showing the shares react to management competence and capital-market conditions, not only bitcoin. Palmer called demand for the perpetuals reflexive: continued preferred-funded buying depends on the securities trading at or near par, and below par fresh issuance becomes less attractive.
Bitwise head of research Ryan Rasmussen expects spot bitcoin ETFs, which Butterfill said hold around $106 billion in assets after roughly $57 billion of cumulative net inflows, to remain the larger demand channel, with preferreds a second tailwind for yield investors. Butterfill sees the instruments amplifying the cycle — supporting purchases when financing conditions are favourable, and weakening as sentiment deteriorates.
