Bitcoin Reclaims $78,000, Boosting MSTR
Shares of Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) jumped roughly 9% on Friday, tracking Bitcoin's climb back to the $78,000 mark. The stock hit $180 during the session, up from a prior close near $165.
According to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data, Bitcoin reached $78,961 by Friday afternoon. The rally provides a welcome reprieve for MSTR investors, who have seen the stock drop more than 70% from its November 2024 all-time high above $457.
MSTR Amplifies Bitcoin's Moves
As a leveraged proxy for Bitcoin, MSTR tends to magnify BTC's price swings in both directions. The company now holds approximately 818,334 Bitcoin on its balance sheet—about 3.9% of all Bitcoin that will ever exist—acquired at an average cost of roughly $66,385 per coin.
This latest uptick follows a broader recovery in Bitcoin, which has been grinding higher since a sharp pullback to the mid-$60,000s earlier this year. Bitcoin also surged past $78,000 last week, fueled by short liquidations and improving macro sentiment after reports of progress in U.S.-Iran diplomatic talks.
Saylor’s Keynote Ignites Fresh Enthusiasm
The stock pop comes on the heels of Executive Chairman Michael Saylor's headline-grabbing keynote at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas last week. Instead of focusing on Bitcoin price targets or additional purchases, Saylor pitched STRC—Strategy’s Bitcoin-backed preferred stock—and a sweeping thesis that digital credit will cannibalize trillions of dollars from the legacy credit market.
“The world's $300 trillion credit market is a much bigger opportunity than the world's roughly $2 trillion Bitcoin market,” Saylor argued during the keynote. “Strategy has built the first product to bridge the two.”
STRC Preferred Stock Gains Traction
STRC, which pays an 11.5% monthly variable dividend and trades on Nasdaq, has grown to approximately $8.5 billion in notional value in under nine months. Saylor claimed that this is larger than the entire existing universe of monthly-paying preferred securities combined. “This is going viral,” he told the audience.
BlackRock's iShares Preferred & Income Securities ETF has already taken a roughly $210 million position in STRC. Saylor said STRC has financed the acquisition of approximately 77,000 BTC year-to-date in 2026—roughly ten times the net inflow of all U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs combined over the same period.
Background
Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, adopted a Bitcoin treasury strategy in 2020 under Michael Saylor's leadership. The company has since become the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, using debt and equity offerings to acquire more coins.
The recent stock decline—down over 70% from its all-time high—reflected Bitcoin's broader volatility and investor concerns about leverage. However, Saylor's pivot to promoting STRC as a digital credit product has rekindled interest among institutional investors.
What This Means
For MSTR shareholders, the 9% surge signals that Bitcoin's price recovery is critical for the stock's near-term direction. But longer-term, Saylor's digital credit vision—if realized—could decouple MSTR from Bitcoin's price swings by generating recurring income through STRC dividends.
The rapid growth of STRC, now at $8.5 billion, suggests strong demand for Bitcoin-linked yield products. If this trend continues, Strategy may cement itself as a bridge between the crypto and traditional credit markets, potentially stabilizing its valuation. However, the stock remains highly sensitive to Bitcoin's price—a risk that investors will continue to watch closely.