Strategy Sells Bitcoin, so what? w/ Adam Livingston | True North Podcast | Ep. 69

— Terminology & taxonomy: The hosts defend calling these instruments "digital credit"—not strictly debt, but equity analyzed through credit concepts that have existed for centuries. The term fits the definition of "provision of money/services with expectation of future payment."

— STRC price volatility & FUD: STRC traded down to $94.70 from $99.84 post-record date, triggering fears of "death spirals." The hosts show this is normal dividend-harvesting behavior; volume spikes 5–6× before record dates and trails off after, creating predictable liquidity windows.

— Balance sheet health & capital raising: Microstrategy has raised $143 million per trading day in 2026 and holds 843,000 Bitcoin with no debt. Monthly dividend obligation (~$100M) is only 0.19% of May's trading volume; annual obligation is 0.02% of estimated Bitcoin trading volume (~$7.3 trillion/year).

— Bitcoin sales math: If forced to sell Bitcoin to cover dividends at current Bitcoin price, Microstrategy would sell only 1,535 BTC/month (3.1% of stack annually)—an infinitesimal portion of Bitcoin's daily trading volume. Raising rates to 12.5% or 13% adds only $26M/year.

— Residual value & incentive structures: Critics claiming MSTR common equity trades to zero ignore call-option dynamics and liquidity. Even at severely bearish Bitcoin prices (never seen in history), incentives remain for buyback and dividend payment.

— DeFi and digital credit future: Saturn and Apex protocols are building on top of STRC/SEDA, currently ~5% of issuance. Daily dividends (starting in 13 days at Strive) will unlock new use cases and DeFi composability.

— If concerned about STRC principal: Plan a 2–3 month holding window and watch for liquidity spikes 5 days before record dates; volume clustering creates reliable exit windows. Streaming dividends provide income cushion if price dips.

— Risk-adjusted allocation: STRC offers 2.6× the yield of JP Morgan preferred with only 2.1× volatility and 112× higher relative liquidity—a rare trifecta (high yield + high liquidity + low vol). Compare to illiquid private credit (10–12% yield, no liquidity for 5+ years).

— Ignore nominal FUD without math: Any death-spiral claim lacking specificity (Bitcoin price target, timeline, cash-flow breakpoint) is noise. Model your own assumptions (20% Bitcoin CAGR, 18%, even 10%) and run the Excel; the math holds across scenarios.