Is Strategy quietly reshaping how public companies interact with capital markets — and could its $21 billion plan set a precedent for Bitcoin-aligned balance sheet plays?
Small fish, big splash
Strategy’s (previously MicroStrategy) role in U.S. capital markets is changing in ways that few would have predicted a few years ago. Known primarily as an enterprise software firm, the company became one of the biggest Bitcoin (BTC) proxies and most active participants in equity financing in 2024—despite accounting for just a small share of total market value.
As of Mar. 25, Strategy has a market capitalization of $87.64 billion, ranking it 109th among U.S. companies and 211th globally. On paper, that places it well below the largest public firms. Yet in terms of equity raised or announced in 2024, it stands out sharply.
According to Bloomberg Intelligence data shared by Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, Strategy represents only 0.07% of the U.S. equity market by value, but accounts for 16% of all equity raised or announced in 2024.
A large portion of this came from two offerings. One was a $2 billion convertible note issuance completed in November 2024. The second, announced in October 2024, is a broader funding plan that aims to raise $21 billion over three years.
As of the end of Dec., $561 million had already been secured, much of it directed toward Bitcoin purchases — a strategy the company has increasingly aligned itself with over the past few years.
Within the software sector, these two transactions made up more than 70% of the $39.5 billion in fresh equity raised in 2024. That figure puts software ahead of every other sector in 2024 in terms of additional offerings, followed by biotechnology at $30.1 billion, oil & gas at $26.46 billion, REITs at $22.44 billion, and aerospace and defense at $21.13 billion.
Notably, only biotechnology and REITs have consistently ranked among the top five sectors in recent years. Strategy’s outsized presence in software makes its contribution unusually concentrated.
Few companies of Strategy’s size have moved this aggressively to tap equity markets in 2024. Fewer still have done so with such a narrow and defined purpose — accumulating Bitcoin through corporate balance sheet expansion.
In that sense, the company’s financial activity is less about conventional software growth and more about asset allocation at scale. Let’s decode what is happening behind the scenes
Strategy doubles down on its BTC thesis
Strategy has continued its Bitcoin acquisition strategy in early 2025, adding 6,911 BTC for approximately $584.1 million at an average price of $84,529 per coin, solidifying its position as the largest public company by BTC holdings.
As of Mar. 25, the company holds a total of 506,137 BTC, acquired for approximately $33.7 billion, with an average cost basis of $66,608. At Bitcoin’s current market price of around $87,000, Strategy’s holdings are valued at over $44 billion, reflecting an unrealized gain of about $10.3 billion, or roughly $20,392 per BTC.
Year-to-date, the company has recorded a 7.7% BTC yield. This latest acquisition came shortly after Strategy reaffirmed its plans to raise capital via Class A strike preferred stock.
While the filing specifies that funds may be used for “general corporate purposes,” prior behavior suggests a large portion will likely be allocated to crypto asset accumulation.
Strategy’s approach diverges sharply from other corporate Bitcoin holders. For example, Tesla holds about 11,500 BTC, while Block (formerly Square) holds a little more than 8,000 BTC. Both firms made their purchases years ago and have largely held static positions.
In contrast, Strategy’s has conducted multiple acquisitions nearly every quarter since 2020 and remains the only publicly traded company with a defined strategy of accumulating Bitcoin as a primary treasury reserve asset.
$MSTR stock continues to mirror Bitcoin price trends. On Mar. 24, amid a strong rebound in U.S. equities — where the Nasdaq rose 2.27% — Strategy shares jumped over 10%, closing at $335.72, translating into a single-day market cap increase of roughly $8 billion, even though no major business update or earnings event occurred.
The correlation here is not incidental. Historically, MSTR has exhibited a beta of over 2.0 relative to Bitcoin, meaning it tends to amplify BTC’s price movements in both directions.
However, this strategy is not without risk. The company carries over $4 billion in long-term debt, much of it tied to convertible notes that mature between 2028 and 2032.
In the event of prolonged Bitcoin drawdowns or tightening capital markets, Strategy may face constraints on its ability to refinance or raise fresh capital.
As of its latest filings, the firm holds minimal cash reserves relative to its debt exposure, highlighting its reliance on BTC price appreciation to maintain balance sheet strength.
STRK and financial engineering
Earlier this year, Strategy introduced a new kind of financial instrument called STRK, which is short for its Series A Perpetual Strike Preferred Stock.
STRK is not a regular stock like MSTR, nor is it a traditional bond. Instead, it sits somewhere in between—designed to raise money without putting immediate pressure on existing shareholders.
STRK was launched in Jan. 2025 as part of Strategy’s larger goal to raise $42 billion over three years—to support its ongoing Bitcoin strategy. The company initially offered 7.3 million STRK shares at $80 each, raising about $563 million, more than double what it had aimed for.
So what exactly does STRK offer investors? For starters, it pays an 8% annual dividend, which Strategy can choose to pay in cash or stock. That steady income has made STRK attractive to investors looking for a more stable way to gain some Bitcoin exposure, without the sharp price swings of common stocks like MSTR or Bitcoin itself.
There’s also a conversion feature built in: if MSTR’s stock price ever reaches $1,000, each STRK share can be converted into 0.1 shares of MSTR. But with MSTR trading at around $335 as of Mar. 25, that conversion isn’t in play right now.
Since it started trading in early Feb., STRK has held up relatively well. The current market price of around $86.6 means investors are earning close to a 7% effective yield, which is high by most standards.
Compared to regular shares, STRK gives Strategy some key advantages. It helps raise capital without immediately issuing more MSTR stock, avoiding direct dilution of existing shareholders. It also attracts a different kind of investor—someone who wants income and stability, rather than just betting on Bitcoin’s long-term growth.
Still, STRK isn’t risk-free. Its value is tied to Strategy’s overall performance, which is closely linked to Bitcoin. If Bitcoin prices drop or the company faces pressure to meet dividend obligations, STRK could lose some of its appeal.
What this means for public markets
Strategy’s positioning in 2024 offers a clear case study in how capital markets are adapting to the presence of digital assets — not through the creation of new asset classes, but by stretching existing ones.
The company has emerged as a leading source of equity issuance this year, while maintaining a market value of just 0.07% of total U.S. equities, highlighting an evolving investor appetite for exposure to asset strategies delivered through listed entities.
In doing so, Strategy has set a tone for how public companies might be used as intermediaries between traditional capital and decentralized assets. It also reflects the maturing interface between regulated financial instruments and crypto-native strategies.
What happens next depends less on Strategy itself and more on broader conditions: the cost of capital, Bitcoin’s role in institutional portfolios, and how regulators and investors treat these hybrid models.
If funding remains accessible and crypto retains demand as an alternative store of value, similar structures may emerge. If not, the model could remain singular.
In either case, Strategy has pushed public markets into new territory, where capital allocation, balance sheet strategy, and digital asset exposure now operate on the same axis.
