What is digital credit?

"Digital credit" is a label that bitcoin treasury companies use for a family of securities they sell to fund their bitcoin holdings. In practice the label covers perpetual preferred stock: shares that sit between a company's debt and its common stock, pay a stated dividend on a fixed reference amount, and have no maturity date.

This guide explains the term, describes the instruments that carry it as of 22 October 2026, and sets out what the label does and does not mean. It is information only, not investment advice.

Where the term comes from

Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, uses "digital credit" in its own materials to describe its preferred share series. Other issuers have adopted similar language. The term is marketing vocabulary rather than a legal category: in the documents that actually govern these securities, such as the certificate of designations for STRC, they are described as series of preferred stock.

On 21DC we use "digital credit" as a convenient umbrella, but every instrument page describes the security by its legal name and links to the filing that defines it.

The basic structure

Most of the instruments share a common design:

• A stated amount of $100 (or €100, or £100) per share. This is the reference figure on which the dividend rate is calculated. It is not a promise to repay $100 at any date.
• A dividend rate expressed as an annual percentage of the stated amount. A 10% rate on a $100 stated amount means $10 per share per year, paid in instalments.
• No maturity. The shares are perpetual. A holder who wants their money back sells on the exchange.
• A ranking. Preferred shares are paid before common shareholders, in dividends and in a liquidation, but after every creditor.
• Limited redemption rights for the issuer, and in most cases a right for holders to require repurchase on a defined "fundamental change" such as a takeover.

Because the shares trade on an exchange, their price moves. The yield a new holder receives depends on the price paid, not the stated amount. That is the effective yield: annual dividend divided by price.

The instruments, as of 22 October 2026

Strategy

Strategy has five series. Four trade on Nasdaq in US dollars and one on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in euros:

• STRF (Strife) – 10.00% fixed, cumulative (certificate of designations).
• STRC (Stretch) – variable rate, cumulative; the declared rate was 12.00% for periods with October 2026 record dates (8-K, 30 September 2026).
• STRE (Stream) – 10.00% fixed on a €100 stated amount, cumulative (8-K).
• STRK (Strike) – 8.00% fixed, cumulative and convertible into common stock (8-K).
• STRD (Stride) – 10.00% fixed, non-cumulative (8-K).

The Strategy preferred stock guide covers these side by side.

Strive

• SATA – variable rate, cumulative, paid each business day; the rate was 13.00% for the November 2026 period, announced on 13 October 2026 (8-K).
• SATS – 15.00% fixed, cumulative, issued on 20 October 2026 at $90 per share (8-K).

The Smarter Web Company

• MORE – sterling preferred shares admitted to the LSE Main Market on 14 October 2026, with an initial variable rate of 12% a year on £100, paid weekly (first day of dealings announcement). Several of its terms are not yet confirmed from the prospectus.

Metaplanet

• MERCURY (Class B) was reported as privately allotted but unlisted, and MARS (Class A) as approved but not issued as of May 2026 (CoinDesk, 13 May 2026). These details come from press coverage, not primary filings, and are unconfirmed.

Why issuers use it

A bitcoin treasury company raises money to acquire bitcoin. It can sell common shares, borrow, or sell preferred shares. Preferred stock does not dilute common shareholders' ownership in the way new common shares do. It also has no maturity date, so there is no refinancing deadline. The cost is a fixed or variable dividend that the company must fund from cash.

Some issuers hold cash specifically for this. Strategy describes its USD Reserve as intended to support preferred dividends and debt interest, and reported it at $4.83 billion as of 18 October 2026 (8-K, 19 October 2026). Strive deposited $22.50 per SATS share into a dividend reserve at closing on 20 October 2026, which it described as roughly 18 months of dividends (8-K).

What "credit" does not mean here

The word "credit" can suggest something closer to a bond than these securities are. Some points worth keeping in mind:

• No repayment date. Unlike a bond, there is no maturity at which the stated amount is due.
• Junior to debt. In a liquidation, all creditors are paid before any preferred holder.
• Dividends are declared by the board. For cumulative series, unpaid dividends accumulate and must be paid before common dividends; for STRD, which is non-cumulative, a skipped dividend is simply not owed.
• The issuer can change some terms. Variable-rate series can be reset within limits, and issuers have amended certificates of designations, for example Strategy's June 2026 amendment moving STRC from monthly to semi-monthly payments.

The risks guide sets these mechanisms out in more detail.

How this site tracks it

Each instrument page shows the current terms with a "terms as of" date and a link to the source filing, a dividend history, and the instrument's position in its issuer's capital stack. Terms are versioned, so when an issuer amends a certificate of designations the previous version remains visible.

What to check in the filing

• The legal name of the series and the date of the certificate of designations.
• The stated amount and currency on which the dividend is calculated.
• Whether dividends are cumulative, and what happens to unpaid amounts.
• How and when the issuer may change the rate, if it is variable.
• Where the series ranks against the issuer's debt and other preferred series.
• Any redemption rights for the issuer and repurchase rights for holders.