\n<\/p>\n
Shares of Strategy<\/a> (NASDAQ: MSTR) surged roughly 9% on Friday as Bitcoin clawed back to the $78,000 level.<\/p>\n This movement comes just days after Executive Chairman Michael Saylor<\/a> delivered a headline-grabbing keynote at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n MSTR climbed above $180 per share during Friday\u2019s session, building on a prior close near $165. The move tracked Bitcoin\u2019s intraday advance, which pushed BTC to $78,961 as of Friday afternoon, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro<\/em> data. <\/p>\n The rally is building up a welcome reprieve for MSTR investors who have endured a brutal stretch \u2014 the stock remains down more than 70% from its November 2024 all-time high above $457.<\/p>\n The price action<\/a> comes amid a broader recovery in Bitcoin that has been grinding higher since a sharp pullback to the mid-$60,000s earlier this year. Bitcoin surged past the $78,000 mark last week as well, propelled by short liquidations and improving macro sentiment following reports of progress in U.S.-Iran diplomatic negotiations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Polymarket contracts on May 1 BTC pricing showed 100% confidence the asset would finish in the $78,000\u2013$80,000 range.<\/p>\n As a leveraged proxy for Bitcoin, MSTR tends to amplify BTC\u2019s moves in both directions. Strategy currently holds approximately 818,334 Bitcoin on its balance sheet \u2014 roughly 3.9% of all Bitcoin that will ever exist \u2014 acquired at an average cost of around $66,385 per coin.<\/p>\n The stock pop also comes on the heels of fresh enthusiasm generated by Saylor\u2019s keynote at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas last week. <\/p>\n Rather than focusing on Bitcoin price targets or more Bitcoin purchases, Saylor\u2019s pitch centered on STRC<\/a> \u2014 Strategy\u2019s Bitcoin-backed preferred stock \u2014 and a sweeping thesis that digital credit is poised to cannibalize trillions of dollars in the legacy credit market.<\/p>\n \u201cThe world\u2019s $300 trillion credit market is a much bigger opportunity than the world\u2019s roughly $2 trillion Bitcoin market, and Strategy has built the first product to bridge the two,\u201d Saylor argued during the keynote.<\/p>\n STRC, which pays<\/a> an 11.5% monthly variable dividend and trades on Nasdaq, has grown to approximately $8.5 billion in notional value in under nine months \u2014 larger, Saylor claimed, than the entire existing universe of monthly-paying preferred securities combined.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going viral,\u201d he told the audience.<\/p>\n BlackRock\u2019s iShares Preferred & Income Securities ETF has already taken a roughly $210 million position in STRC.<\/p>\nSaylor: Strategy\u2019s STRC is booming<\/h2>\n