Michael Saylor quoted a CNBC TV anchor who repeated his marketing spiel about STRC on live television.
On Thursday’s edition of CNBC’s Power Lunch, Saylor was asked by host Brian Sullivan, “Am I offending you if I call it a money market fund?”
Sullivan was referencing Strategy’s publicly-traded STRC, a 11.5% dividend-paying preferred share that is definitely not a money market fund.
Saylor, who’s spent months likening his uninsured STRC to insured savings products like FDIC-insured bank accounts and SIPC-insured money markets happily agreed.
“It’s meant to be like a money market,” Saylor replied, continuing months of misleading statements about the shares that are supposed to trade near $100 yet have traded beneath $93.50 on 10 separate days.
He later tweeted the clip, declaring that his company’s digital credit products are somehow “redefining” yield.
Unfortunately, STRC is paying 11.5% for a reason, mostly because Strategy hasn’t been able to lower that rate and sustain demand for STRC’s share price near its intended $100 stated amount.
STRC is also nothing like a money market fund, and according to Bloomberg, 80% of STRC buyers have been retail investors, rather than sophisticated institutions.
Read more: Strategy is paying credit card rates to keep STRC at $100
STRC versus an actual money market fund
Unlike a money market fund, Strategy isn’t required to hold full assets to back STRC’s par value, has no bid in the Nasdaq market to support its share price, isn’t required to maintain any particular pricing value of investors’ principal, and has no liquidity requirement to support redemptions.
SEC-registered money market funds must comply with Rule 2a-7 and its liquidity minimums and asset diversification rules.
Money markets maintain stable net asset values by investing in short-term, high-quality debt.
STRC, in contrast, doesn’t comply with money market regulations and invests in one of the most volatile assets in history, bitcoin (BTC).
Unlike a money market fund, STRC pays a dividend from a company with a junk “B-” credit rating from S&P analysts. That same company reported a $12.4 billion net loss in a single quarter.
US money market funds carry SIPC protections when purchased through a registered US brokerage. Bank money market accounts carry FDIC insurance. STRC carries no insurance.
Strategy itself admitted on page 90 of its earnings presentation that STRC isn’t a money market fund.
The company conceded that it’s “not required to hold any assets to back the STRC Stock.” That disclosure didn’t stop Saylor and Sullivan from floating the comparison on national television.
Nor did it stop Saylor from enthusiastically agreeing.
$100 or $90.52 per share, depending on the day
Money market funds shouldn’t lose more than 7% of their value in a few hours. STRC has, repeatedly.
The stock fell to $90.52 in November 2025 and to $93.10 in February 2026. Strategy hiked its dividend rate seven times since launch to encourage secondary trading closer to $100.
Its dividend rate, which started at 9% in July 2025, now sits at 11.5%, a 250 basis point increase.
Meanwhile, BTC trades near $66,000, well below Strategy’s average purchase cost of $75,694 per coin. The company’s entire BTC operation has lost money since inception, while MSTR common stock has declined 74% from its November 2024 high.
Saylor told Sullivan that BTC needs to appreciate just 2% a year to cover STRC’s dividends forever.
However, he conveniently omitted that his model only works for MSTR shareholders if BTC rallies 30% annually, a forecast he has repeated for years but that BTC’s five-year annualized return hasn’t delivered.
Indeed, Saylor has compared STRC to insured products for months.
He described it on CNBC as “a bank that pays you 20% interest.” On an earnings call, he recommended STRC “for your family treasury.”
Incredibly, STRC raised over $1.18 billion in a single week this month, suggesting that comparisons like Sullivan’s are working exactly as intended.
Sullivan’s framing of STRC as a money market fund may have been casual. For the retail investors buying STRC on the basis of these comparisons, the difference between a money market fund and a junk-rated perpetual preferred stock is anything but.
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