Investing.com — Bitcoin held above the $60,000 mark on Saturday as investors weighed mounting concerns over Strategy Inc’s (NASDAQ:MSTR) Bitcoin accumulation strategy ahead of a key dividend reset, while broader cryptocurrency markets traded higher.
Bitcoin was trading up 1.90% at $60,302.7 as of 08:24 ET (12:24 GMT). Much of the market’s attention remains focused on June 30, when Strategy’s STRC perpetual preferred shares will trade ex-dividend and undergo their monthly dividend rate reset.
Investors who own the shares before the ex-dividend date will receive the first semi-monthly dividend payment of $0.48 per share on July 15.
The dividend reset is viewed as the more significant event. STRC is currently trading near $73, about 27% below its $100 par value, pushing its effective yield to roughly 15%. Some investors expect Strategy to raise the dividend rate from its current 11.5% to better reflect market pricing.
The weakness in STRC has also renewed debate over Strategy’s capital-raising model. Ripple Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse said in a CNBC interview that he remains bullish on Bitcoin but argued that the company’s reliance on preferred stock issuance to fund additional Bitcoin purchases has weighed on the broader cryptocurrency market.
Garlinghouse described the approach as financial engineering rather than long-term value creation, pointing to STRC’s decline below par value as evidence that investor confidence in the funding model has weakened. He stressed that his criticism was directed at the financing strategy rather than Bitcoin itself.
Strategy has accumulated about 844,000 Bitcoin at an average purchase price of roughly $75,600 per coin. With Bitcoin trading near $60,240, the company’s unrealized losses have exceeded $13 billion, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.
The paper loss is larger than the entire market capitalization of several well-known cryptocurrencies, including Dogecoin, Cardano, Chainlink, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash, highlighting the scale of Strategy’s leveraged exposure to the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
Some analysts have questioned whether the company should temporarily slow its Bitcoin purchases and strengthen its cash position as lower preferred share prices make raising fresh capital more difficult.
Others argue the financing model remains intact despite becoming less efficient, maintaining that long-term performance will ultimately depend on Bitcoin’s price recovery rather than short-term fluctuations in the preferred shares.