Peter Schiff has renewed his attack on Strategy after Bitcoin’s pullback pushed the company’s massive BTC stack below its aggregate acquisition cost.
Schiff wrote that Strategy spent about $64 billion buying Bitcoin and argued that the return on that accumulation is now negative. The live numbers make the criticism timely. Strategy’s own purchase tracker lists 843,738 BTC acquired for $63.87 billion, with an average cost of $75,700 per Bitcoin. Bitcoin is trading near $74,431, putting the stack near $62.8 billion on a spot-price basis.
That does not mean Strategy has realized a loss. The company still holds the Bitcoin, and the mark-to-market result can change quickly if BTC reclaims the mid-$75,000s. It does mean the company’s aggregate Bitcoin position is below cost at current prices, which gives Schiff a cleaner opening to attack the financing model behind MSTR and STRC.
The criticism landed while MSTR was trading near $159.89, down about 3% on the session, and STRC was near $99.30, just under its $100 stated amount. That matters because Strategy’s capital stack now depends on more than Bitcoin conviction. It depends on common-stock demand, preferred-share appetite, dividend obligations and investor confidence that the company can keep converting capital-market access into more BTC per share.
STRC’s 11.5% Yield Keeps Pressure On The Model
Schiff’s sharper claim is aimed at STRC, Strategy’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock. He argued that the preferred-share structure depends on Bitcoin appreciating fast enough to support an 11.5% payout to STRC holders.
STRC is designed as a cash-yield product tied to Strategy’s broader Bitcoin treasury model. Strategy’s STRC page presents the preferred stock as part of its Digital Credit stack, while earlier filings and market updates have kept the annualized dividend rate around 11.5%. The product gives income-focused investors a different exposure profile from MSTR common stock, but it also creates a recurring cash obligation for the company.
That is where the debate becomes more serious than the usual Schiff-Saylor fight. If Bitcoin rises strongly, Strategy’s model can look powerful: BTC appreciation supports balance-sheet value, capital-market demand stays open and preferred financing can help fund more accumulation. If Bitcoin stalls near or below Strategy’s cost basis, the model becomes harder to defend because the yield obligation remains while the asset backing the broader story stops expanding.
The pressure is not new. Recent CryptoAdventure coverage tracked how Saylor pitched STRC as a Bitcoin-linked Digital Credit product and how Strategy’s financing debate intensified after Saylor said the company could sell some Bitcoin while still pursuing net accumulation. Schiff’s latest post pushes the same argument from the other side: the model works best when Bitcoin keeps rising.
Bitcoin Price Now Drives The Narrative
Strategy supporters still have a simple counterargument. The company has built the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury in the market, and a modest BTC rebound would move the position back above cost. At $75,700, the stack is roughly breakeven on an aggregate purchase basis. A stronger recovery would quickly restore paper gains and ease the pressure around Schiff’s claim.
The risk is that Bitcoin’s current drawdown is happening while leverage, ETF flows and exchange-side pressure are already weighing on market sentiment. Bitcoin recently saw more than $1 billion in long liquidations, and BTC has been struggling to reclaim the $77,000 area. That keeps Strategy’s model under a brighter spotlight because MSTR trades as both an equity and a leveraged Bitcoin proxy.
Schiff’s language remains deliberately aggressive, especially around STRC. The more measured market question is whether Strategy can keep funding its Bitcoin strategy at attractive terms if BTC trades below cost and preferred investors demand a high yield. STRC near par keeps that channel functional. Sustained weakness below par would make future preferred issuance harder and could put more pressure on common equity, cash reserves or selective BTC sales.
Bitcoin back above $75,700 would move Strategy’s aggregate BTC position out of the red on a cost basis. A deeper move below $74,000 would sharpen the debate around MSTR’s market value, STRC’s dividend economics and how much confidence investors still have in Strategy’s Bitcoin-backed capital stack.
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