Earlier today, gold bug Peter Schiff claimed that Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor was trying to prop up the floundering investment product by carrying out heavy stock buybacks.
“Michael, STRC is dead. You have been keeping it alive on artificial life support with your buybacks,” he wrote.
According to Schiff, Strategy is running out of money to prop up its preferred stock. The ongoing Bitcoin market crash is going to aggravate the situation even further, he argued.
“But you’re running out of cash. And the selling pressure on STRC will increase as Bitcoin crashes,” Schiff wrote.
The Bitcoin bear went on to criticize the generous 12% annualized dividend yield of STRC, saying that ultimately the yield wouldn’t be enough to cover the risks of the product.
“It won’t be nearly enough yield to cover the risk. 12%,” he warned.
The stern comments from Schiff followed a typical bullish tweet from Saylor. In his post, Saylor claimed that AI could not mint new Bitcoin.
“AI can make me rap. It can’t print Bitcoin,” the cofounder of Strategy wrote.
Scrutinizing STRC buybacks
Strategy’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC) seeks to provide regular dividend income to investors while trading near its $100 face value.
Currently, STRC offers a 12% annual dividend yield, which Strategy has been working to keep steady in order to keep the stock trading near its face value.
However, maintaining the price stability of STRC has come at a big cost.
In its Q3 financial results on Oct. 29, Strategy reported that the firm had spent a total of $2.04 billion on repurchases of STRC as of Oct. 25.
Describing the heavy buybacks as a success, the firm said it had successfully put STRC on the road to financial recovery.
However, these buybacks have come under fire from Schiff, who questions whether the firm can keep propping up investor demand by repurchasing its shares forever.
Strategy buys another $82 million in Bitcoin
In spite of the bearish comments from Schiff, Strategy isn’t budging on its strategy of ramping up its Bitcoin holdings.
The firm’s recent regulatory filing shows that Strategy bought another 1,036 BTC between Nov. 2 and Nov. 8.
The total cost of these purchases is estimated to be $81.9 million, with an average purchase price of $79,012 per BTC.
With the latest purchase, Strategy now holds an eye-watering 850,364 BTC.
