STRC Stock Slide Revives Terra Comparisons, Analyst Responds

On June 23, 2026, Strategy’s preferred stock, STRC, fell to an intraday low of around $82.53. This drop has prompted comparisons to Terra’s UST stablecoin, which collapsed in 2022. STRC is designed to trade near $100, but as of June 23, it closed at about $88.65, significantly below that target.

Mark Palmer, an analyst at Benchmark, asserts that the comparisons are misplaced. STRC is a dividend-paying share backed indirectly by Strategy's substantial bitcoin holdings, not a stablecoin that maintains a fixed value. Palmer notes that STRC never promised to hold a specific price, stating, "STRC is not a stablecoin." The performance of STRC is therefore seen as a market-driven reset rather than a depeg, which is a term specifically linked to stablecoins.

STRC pays an annual dividend of 11.5%, resembling the yields advertised by Terra's Anchor protocol before its downfall. Palmer emphasizes that STRC’s purpose is to support trading at around $100, not to maintain a peg. The mechanism designed to bolster this price involves issuing new shares and using the proceeds to purchase more bitcoin, which has been put on hold due to the stock trading below the targeted level.

Palmer clarified this further by contrasting STRC with UST, which was an algorithmic stablecoin relying on a mint-and-burn mechanism with its sister token, LUNA. When confidence in UST eroded, it failed catastrophically. In contrast, STRC operates without such self-reinforcing mechanisms, being directly backed by Strategy's bitcoin holdings, which total approximately 847,363 BTC valued at around $54.5 billion as of the latest reports.

Despite the lower trading prices for STRC, Benchmark has reaffirmed a price target of $570 for Strategy’s common stock, MSTR, much higher than its previous highs. However, this stock has recently experienced declines, falling 2.8% to $109 as of June 23, marking a fifth consecutive day of losses.