Michael Saylor’s Strategy could buy roughly $30 billion worth of bitcoin this year if its current acquisition pace holds, according to JPMorgan analysts, marking a potential acceleration beyond the company’s already aggressive treasury playbook.
The estimate comes after Strategy added 145,834 BTC so far this year, worth around $11 billion, with JPMorgan noting that much of the buying occurred while BTC traded below the company’s estimated average cost of roughly $75,000. At the current annualized pace, the bank said Strategy’s 2026 purchases would exceed the approximately $22 billion it bought in each of 2024 and 2025.
JPMorgan Sees Bitcoin Buying Spree Reacceleration
The latest call centers on the speed of Strategy’s buying, not merely the size of its balance sheet. JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said the company “appears to have accelerated its Bitcoin purchases again in April,” extending what they described as an opportunity-driven pattern this year.
“Strategy appears to have accelerated its Bitcoin purchases again in April,” the analysts said, according to summaries of the note. “The company is pursuing an opportunity-driven buying strategy throughout 2026, sensitive to market conditions and funding opportunities.”
That framing is important. Strategy is not simply buying on a fixed schedule. JPMorgan’s read is that the company has been using price weakness and available financing windows to expand its bitcoin stack, while its stock-market premium gives it a capital-raising mechanism that most corporate bitcoin holders do not have.
Strategy’s premium to net asset value has expanded to around 26% over the past two months, according to reports citing JPMorgan. A larger premium can make equity or debt issuance more attractive, because the company can raise capital above the implied value of the bitcoin it already holds and recycle proceeds into additional BTC purchases.
Strategy’s Balance Sheet Keeps Growing
Strategy said on May 5 that it held 818,334 BTC as of May 3, representing 22% year-to-date growth. The company also reported $11.68 billion raised year to date, while STRC alone had raised $5.58 billion and cumulative dividends declared and paid on preferred stock had reached $692.5 million.
The company’s own commentary emphasizes the funding side of the model. CEO Phong Le said, “Adoption of Bitcoin continues to grow in 2026. Digital Credit, highlighted by STRC, has been a big success. STRC has shown strong demand, high liquidity, and low volatility.” He added that Strategy raised $5.6 billion in year-to-date STRC gross proceeds and cited growing bitcoin activity from major banks including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citi.
CFO Andrew Kang framed the preferred-equity platform as a core part of the company’s capital structure. “Strategy is the dominant issuer of Digital Credit in the world, with over $13.5 billion of preferred equity outstanding, supported by a fortress Bitcoin balance sheet,” he said. “We continue to extend our track record of servicing our dividends, having now met our payment obligations on time and in full across 23 consecutive distributions, totaling over $693 million since the launch of our preferred equity products in early 2025.”
The Trade-Off: Bigger Purchases, Bigger Obligations
The same structure that enables larger bitcoin purchases also increases Strategy’s ongoing obligations. The company reported a first-quarter net loss of $12.54 billion, or $38.25 per share, driven by a $14.46 billion unrealized loss on digital assets. Strategy’s filings also state that perpetual preferred stock dividends must be paid in perpetuity, and that future obligations could require the company to sell common stock or bitcoin.
That tension has become harder to ignore after Saylor signaled that Strategy could sell some bitcoin to pay preferred dividends, even as he later summarized the firm’s stance in a six-word post: “Buy more bitcoin than you sell.”
At press time, BTC traded at $79,934.
featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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