Ledgers Academy Letter
The Daily Ledger: 13 September 2026
Strategy bought no bitcoin in the week to 7 September and spent $176.3 million retiring STRC preferred shares below par, while Strive and Capital B kept buying and Bitdeer sold everything it mined. The ECB raised rates ahead of Wednesday's Fed decision, and Symbiosis let its bounty deadline pass without a post-mortem.
Subject: Why Strategy bought back STRC instead of bitcoin
Preview: Four treasury companies gave four different answers this week, the ECB raised rates, and the Symbiosis bounty deadline passed without a post-mortem.
THE DAILY LEDGER
13 September 2026
Strategy retires its own preferred shares while Strive and Capital B keep buying bitcoin, the European Central Bank raises rates ahead of the Fed, and Symbiosis lets its bounty deadline pass in silence
Editor's note: prices and sentiment were checked at 21:30 UTC on 13 September 2026 (23:30 Europe/Stockholm). Sunday has no US exchange session, so the ETF figures below are the completed totals for the week of 8 to 11 September.
Why did Strategy stop buying bitcoin? For the week of 31 August to 7 September the answer is in its own filing: it bought none and instead paid $176.3 million to retire STRC preferred shares trading below their $100 stated amount. Two smaller treasury companies bought, and one miner sold everything it mined.
1. The Day in Numbers
- Bitcoin: $77,420 at 21:30 UTC, up 0.3 percent over the trailing 24 hours on Binance. That window rolls continuously and is not a completed daily change.
- Ether: $2,513 at 21:30 UTC, down 0.5 percent over the trailing 24 hours.
- Fear and Greed Index: 61, Greed, two points below Saturday.
- US spot bitcoin ETFs: about $463 million of net outflows across the four sessions of 8 to 11 September, while spot ether ETFs took in about $197 million, per SoSoValue. Trackers disagree on daily totals.
2. Why did Strategy stop buying bitcoin and buy back STRC instead?
STRC is Strategy's perpetual preferred stock. It has a $100 stated amount, pays a monthly cash dividend, and the company resets the dividend rate each month with the aim of keeping the shares trading near $100. When STRC trades below that level, the company cannot sell new shares at par to fund bitcoin purchases.
The Block reported that Strategy repurchased 1,810,885 STRC shares for $176.3 million, about $97.36 each, doubled the repurchase programme to $2 billion, and left its holdings unchanged at 845,050 BTC. Chief executive Phong Le explained the logic in July: repurchases below $100 reduce future dividend obligations and remove the securities from the capital structure at a discount. Retiring $100 of obligation for $97 is a known return. Buying bitcoin at $77,000 is not.
Others chose differently. Strive's 8-K of 8 September records 1,375 BTC bought at $79,281 for a total of 24,531. France's Capital B bought 376 BTC for 25.3 million euros on 7 September, funded by a private placement. Miner Bitdeer mined and sold 293.2 BTC in the week to 11 September and holds none. "Corporate bitcoin demand" is not one thing. It depends on what each company's own securities cost.
3. Today's Headlines
The ECB raised rates on Thursday, the Fed decides on Wednesday
The European Central Bank raised its three key rates by 25 basis points on 10 September, citing energy inflation of 14.3 percent and a Middle East conflict that "continues to generate inflation pressures." The Federal Open Market Committee meets on 15 and 16 September, the same week as Tuesday's Senate cloture vote on the CLARITY Act.
Symbiosis lets its bounty deadline pass without a post-mortem
The 20 percent white-hat offer Symbiosis made to the attacker who minted unbacked syBTC on 11 September expired on 13 September. CryptoSlate reported that the protocol has recovered about 15 BTC, is "building a compensation framework" for liquidity providers, and has published neither a final loss figure nor a technical explanation of where BridgeV2 failed.
Strategy's dividend reserve is untouched
The Block also reported that Strategy sold no shares through its at-the-market programmes during the week and held $5.10 billion in a USD Reserve set aside for preferred dividends and debt service. A pause in bitcoin buying therefore does not threaten STRC's dividends.
4. Security Note: a wallet drainer behind a "leaked" game
This is an ongoing pattern rather than a new incident. Malwarebytes documented on 1 September a fake countdown site offering a leaked copy of Grand Theft Auto VI for 1 SOL. Connecting a wallet loads a script that inventories balances across seven networks, reports them to the operator, and asks for either a transfer or a standing token approval. The rules do not change: never connect a wallet to a download or game site, refuse any signature you did not initiate for a specific purchase, and keep the wallet you browse with separate from the one that holds savings.
5. From the Academy Library
Yesterday's letter on what a tokenized deposit is is the companion piece. Our guide to bitcoin market cycles and macro covers how rate decisions reach crypto, and how to read tokenomics applies the same supply logic to tokens. Start at Academy School.
Bottom line: A treasury company's appetite for bitcoin is set by the price of its own paper. This week Strategy's paper was cheaper than bitcoin, so that is what it bought.
Sources and further reading
- Binance: BTC 24-hour market snapshot
- Binance: ETH 24-hour market snapshot
- Alternative.me: Crypto Fear and Greed Index history
- Crypto Briefing: spot bitcoin and ether ETF flows for the week to 11 September
- The Block: Strategy repurchases $176 million of STRC shares, makes no bitcoin purchases
- CryptoSlate: Strategy's July pause and the logic of STRC buybacks
- Look Into Bitcoin: how STRC's variable dividend works
- SEC EDGAR: Strive 8-K of 8 September 2026
- Capital B: acquisition of 376 BTC, 7 September 2026
- PANews: Bitdeer sells 293.2 BTC for the week ending 11 September
- ECB: monetary policy statement, 10 September 2026
- Federal Reserve: FOMC meeting calendar
- CryptoSlate: Symbiosis recovery leaves liquidity providers unpaid
- Malwarebytes: fake GTA 6 leaked copy drains your crypto wallet
Disclaimer: This publication is for education and information only. It is not financial, investment, legal, tax, or security advice.