Standard Chartered keeps $100,000 Bitcoin call despite Strategy sales

Strategy has started selling some of its Bitcoin to pay preferred-stock dividends, a shift that has shaken confidence in one of crypto’s most watched treasury trades. Standard Chartered says the move has complicated the near-term story for Bitcoin, but the bank is still holding its $100,000 year-end 2026 forecast.

In a Friday note, Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick described the selling as “mostly noise rather than a signal” for Bitcoin’s medium-term direction. The bank framed the issue as partly about communication after Strategy moved away from its long-running posture of accumulating Bitcoin rather than selling it.

Strategy sold 3,588 BTC for about $216 million between June 29 and July 5, according to the company details cited by Decrypt. The proceeds were used to cover dividends on preferred shares and add to a cash reserve. After the sale, Strategy held 843,775 BTC.

The larger sale followed a much smaller disposal of 32 BTC in early June. Decrypt reported that the earlier sale helped trigger Strategy’s worst trading week since 2022, showing how sensitive investors have become to any sign that the company may use its Bitcoin holdings as a funding source.

Why Strategy’s premium matters

Strategy’s Bitcoin play has depended on a market premium. The key metric is mNAV, or market net asset value, which compares the company’s market value with the value of its Bitcoin holdings. When Strategy traded well above the value of its BTC, it could issue stock, buy more Bitcoin and support the case that its shares deserved a premium.

That setup has weakened. Standard Chartered put Strategy’s mNAV at about 1 on an enterprise-value basis, meaning the company is valued close to the value of its Bitcoin when debt and other financing are considered. BitcoinTreasuries, using a diluted equity measure, placed the stock around 0.7 times the value of its Bitcoin, implying a discount of roughly one-third.

Strategy’s Bitcoin position was acquired for $63.7 billion and was worth about $54 billion at recent prices, according to figures cited by Decrypt. A company filing showed Strategy recorded an $8.3 billion loss on digital assets last quarter, with nearly all of that loss unrealized. An unrealized loss means the asset has fallen in value on paper, but the loss is not locked in unless the asset is sold.

The STRC dividend question

Strategy is now using Bitcoin to support STRC, a perpetual preferred stock known as “Stretch,” according to Standard Chartered. Preferred stock is a class of shares that usually pays set dividends before common shareholders receive payments. STRC carries a 12% annual dividend and has about $10 billion outstanding, the bank said.

STRC is designed to trade near its $100 par value, but it fell to an intraday low of $71.25 on June 26 after Strategy disclosed its first Bitcoin sale earlier in the month. Kendrick wrote that subsequent trading suggests investors are not yet fully comfortable with the company’s pivot.

Strategy introduced a “BTC Monetization Program” on June 29 that allows it to raise as much as $1.25 billion through Bitcoin sales to fund dividends. For Bitcoin holders, the key issue is whether Strategy’s selling remains a company-specific funding tool or becomes a broader signal about demand from corporate treasury buyers.

Bitcoin recently traded around $64,000, according to Decrypt price data, up for the week but sharply lower over the past year. Standard Chartered’s message is that Strategy’s sales may affect sentiment in the short run, while the bank’s longer-term Bitcoin target remains unchanged.

This story draws on original reporting from Decrypt.