Strategy's Stretch (STRC) product is now the single largest marginal buyer of bitcoin in the market, estimated to be absorbing 10,000+ BTC per day — roughly 35 times the daily issuance of new bitcoin. The product is being marketed to retail investors as "money market like," but that framing is misleading. Stretch is preferred equity, not a credit instrument. Holders have no legal claim on the underlying bitcoin, and the dividend can be suspended at any time. The 11.5% rate reflects real embedded risk that is not being priced honestly.

In this episode of The Last Trade, Jackson Mikalic, Michael Tanguma, and Brian Cubellis break down why the Stretch trade matters, how it is reshaping bitcoin's demand curve, and why the growing stack of financial engineering on top of bitcoin deserves more scrutiny than the market is giving it.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What is Stretch (STRC)? How Strategy's preferred equity product works, why it is not "money market like," and the risks that are being obscured by its marketing
• Bitcoin treasury companies are quietly selling. Many of the DAT companies that accumulated bitcoin in 2024 have since sold their holdings and pivoted to AI without disclosure most holders noticed
• Goldman Sachs files a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF. What Goldman's entry means for the Wall Street institutional snowball, on the heels of Morgan Stanley's MSBT launch and BlackRock's continued dominance
• Kevin Warsh's crypto portfolio disclosure. What the incoming Fed chair's 30+ crypto investments signal for monetary policy, rate cuts, and tokenization
• Justin Sun sues the Trump family. The World Liberty Financial lawsuit and what it reveals about the ongoing stigma around digital assets
• Allbirds pivots to AI, stock jumps 800%. Why equity markets have detached from fundamentals and what it means for sound money
• Record consumer pessimism hits 2008 levels. 54% of Americans say their financial situation is worse than a year ago, with inflation expectations climbing to 4.8% — the silent case for holding spot bitcoin
• Single Point of Failure of the Week. A fake Ledger Live app on Apple's App Store drained $9.5 million from 50+ victims in a single week

Key takeaway

The monetization phase of bitcoin only happens once. Financial engineering on top of an unsettled foundation is historically a recipe for disaster. Spot bitcoin, self-custodied or held through multi-institution custody, remains the cleanest expression of the thesis.