Key takeaways

• Bitcoin has matured as digital capital - now widely adopted across Wall Street and held by more than 200 public companies.
• Strategy’s balance sheet exceeds 640,000 BTC (≈ 3 % of total supply), acquired through multiple funding channels since 2020.
• The company’s financing model turns Bitcoin into a full credit stack - from short and mid-term convertibles to perpetual preferreds.
• NASDAQ-listed securities have opened Bitcoin-backed yield to both institutional and retail investors.
• Fair-value accounting and CAMT guidance have normalized reporting and taxation for Bitcoin treasuries.
• The benchmark for others: governance discipline, transparent KPIs, and one goal - increase Bitcoin per share.
  
  

Speakers

Andrew Kang – CFO | Strategy

Moderator (fireside): Hemant Pandit – CRO | Cryptio

Bitcoin as digital capital

“Bitcoin is digital capital,” Kang opened. Over the past two years, Wall Street’s attitude has shifted. “We’ve seen mass adoption” catalyzed by the launch of ETPs in 2024, a more favorable legislative backdrop, and demand from both institutions and retail driving price and liquidity.

More than 200 public companies now hold Bitcoin as a balance-sheet reserve, taking advantage of its core premise as a store of value and the primary store of digital value. Kang called it “the most foundational digital asset in the crypto economy - above all else.”

Strategy’s own position - over 640,000 BTC worth roughly $70 billion - represents about 3% of total supply. It has acquired Bitcoin every quarter since August 2020 using working cash, debt, common stock and now preferred equity.

“The scale and the timeline of when we began is a true differentiator of Strategy,” Kang said, “not many can say that the acquisition of that is in the $47,000 range”

From convertibles to perpetual preferreds – the Strategy playbook

Kang described the company’s financing evolution as product-led. Strategy began with convertible debt, becoming “the largest issuer of convertibles in the world” in 2024. But that market, he said, “is a very closed system - institutional only’ in addition to ‘having a ceiling’.

“The retail part is very important”. To expand access, Strategy designed perpetual preferred equity: “no call option, truly perpetual - a forever instrument against a forever asset.” These listed securities raise capital without dilution and appeal to both retail and institutions through fixed dividends and tax-deferred treatment.

The company has issued four preferred series – STRK, STRD, STRF and STRC – each at a different point on the risk and duration spectrum. The most recent, STRC (‘Stretch’), was the largest IPO of 2025 at $2.5 billion, including $650 million in retail participation – it had the largest concentration of any of Strategy’s previous IPOs.

Retail access, Kang emphasized, is deliberate.

“Every person in this room can buy our preferreds on Robinhood or E-Trade,” he said. “To us, it’s about expanding the funnel – giving people aligned to Bitcoin a way to find value in different financial products backed by Bitcoin.”

Building a Bitcoin credit market

Strategy’s balance sheet now combines $8.2 billion of debt, about 1.1 times levered, with $6.6 billion of preferred equity, backed by $70 billion of unencumbered Bitcoin. “That’s a conservative profile relative to our asset base,” Kang noted.

Asked how the company funds dividends, he pointed to daily liquidity and coverage: “We could capture the full annual preferred-dividend expense, around $670 million, within a week if we needed to.”

Kang described the current focus as “finding untapped pockets of capital” - particularly the global fixed-income market, of which Bitcoin credit is only ~$6 billion today. “The credit markets are completely untapped when it comes to Bitcoin exposure,” he said. The objective is “finding large untapped markets that we can grow into and access through innovation”.

Strategy’s instruments, taken together, form a Bitcoin yield curve - convertibles for leverage, perpetual preferreds for long-term yield, short-term notes for liquidity. Effective yields on the higher-risk tranches reach 12–13%. “Anyone could play in any sort of this bucket based on the type of appetite you have,” Kang said.

Accessibility, transparency and investor trust

Kang highlighted the importance of making instruments both understandable and tradable. “Listing them on NASDAQ, giving them four-letter tickers - that’s how you make them marketable in a way people recognize,” he said.

Institutional investors, he added, now understand the mechanics. “The question isn’t whether they get the instrument - it’s whether they have a view on Bitcoin.” Many of the world’s largest asset managers already hold exposure through Strategy’s products.

For retail, the appeal is simpler: yield and familiarity. Kang joked that even skeptics were starting to participate. “We call this persona Uncle Clarence - the guy always trying to find holes in Bitcoin. Even he probably bought some. Because if you can earn 10% on a short-term, tradable investment instead of 3% in a money-market fund, it’s an easy decision.”

Shaping Fair-Value accounting and corporate tax reform

Kang described transparency and collaboration as the foundation of Strategy’s operating model. He said the company was “extremely interactive with FASB from day one,” helping shape how digital assets are recognized on corporate balance sheets. In addition to submitting comment letters and participating in the broader legislative process with the FASB, Strategy also engaged with the IRS and SEC on tax and disclosure policy – coordinating with other Bitcoin-native firms to advocate for clear, consistent treatment across corporate reporting and taxation frameworks.

Two shifts followed that have improved corporate adoption:

• Fair-value accounting – FASB’s move from impairment-only to mark-to-market lets companies reflect economic reality. The change enabled Strategy to report $14 billion in operating income and $10 billion in net income in one quarter due to fair value gains recognized. prices rose.
• Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT) – in response to industry advocacy, the IRS clarified that digital assets will not be subject to unrealized-gain treatment under CAMT - a change Kang said removed a “tremendous tax burden” for corporates holding Bitcoin.

He also encouraged newer treasuries to adopt institutional standards. “Look at the experience of the management team, the maturity of the business model, the sophistication of the board, and the awareness of risk management frameworks,” he said. Take a “transparent approach to not only investors… but also the environment and the ecosystem as a whole. It’s not a closed environment. We are trying to grow this.”

First principles and long-term focus

For Kang, the guiding metric remains clear: increase Bitcoin per share.

“The purpose of a Bitcoin treasury company is to generate Bitcoin yield and accrete more Bitcoin on the balance sheet,” he said. Every instrument, from convertibles to preferreds, is designed around that principle.

The company’s long-term view is unchanged: never sell.

“We’ll hold it until it becomes the dominant digital asset in the world,” Kang said. “It’s not going to zero anymore - it’s only going to a million and beyond.”

In the medium term, the focus is continued product innovation - issuing preferreds in new currencies and regions and expanding into untapped credit markets.

The takeaway

Bitcoin treasuries are evolving from passive holders to active capital architects - by building trust-based financial infrastructure around their assets.

Strategy can do this because of credibility earned over time: consistent accumulation, conservative leverage, and transparent reporting. The company discloses live metrics such as mNAV and Leverage, while focusing on KPIs including Bitcoin per share and Torque - benchmarks that give investors confidence its capital structure is sound.

That credibility allows Strategy to issue perpetual, listed, Bitcoin-backed instruments - something few others could do at similar scale - turning its balance sheet into a platform for market access.

For treasuries, Kang’s message was pragmatic: believe in Bitcoin, build access, manage risk, and measure everything in Bitcoin per share.

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