SpaceX Jumps into Bitcoin Treasury Race, Igniting Institutional Hype

Public Bitcoin treasury holdings demonstrated robust growth in May 2026, with public companies adding or disclosing a significant 51,045 BTC before sales, resulting in a net addition of 43,557 BTC. This surge, valued at $3.2 billion at May 31's price of $73,579.69 per coin, extended a multi-month accumulation trend, notably occurring while Bitcoin was approximately 42% below its all-time high. This consistent accumulation underscores a growing corporate confidence in Bitcoin as a treasury asset.

Strategy maintained its commanding position at the forefront of public companies by Bitcoin treasury size, further solidifying its lead with an acquisition of 25,404 BTC in May. However, its dominance faced rare scrutiny this month following the disclosure of a minor sale of 32 BTC in early June. While this figure represented an minuscule 0.004% of its total holdings, it marked the company's first disclosed sale since a brief transaction of 704 BTC in 2022. Executive Chair Michael Saylor characterized this sale as routine capital management, reiterating the company's long-term strategy to buy 10 to 20 BTC for every one sold, asserting that Strategy will "never be a net seller of Bitcoin." CEO Phong Le further clarified that such sales would only occur when accretive to Bitcoin per share, not out of financial distress, reinforcing the company's strategic approach to its digital assets. Strategy predominantly financed these substantial purchases through its STRC preferred shares, generating $1.95 billion in at-the-market (ATM) proceeds in May. The STRC instrument demonstrated significant market activity, capturing 27% of total STRC trading volume for the month. With a market cap of $10.5 billion, STRC stands as the largest tradeable preferred share globally, boasting exceptional liquidity with a $375 million 30-day average, making it 23 to 25 times more liquid than its nearest comparables, including preferred shares from major financial institutions like Wells Fargo and Bank of America.

While Strategy led in raw acquisition volume, Strive garnered considerable attention for its extraordinary growth rate. The company added 1,943 BTC in May, followed by another 2,500 BTC on June 2, accumulating a combined 4,443 BTC within approximately one month. This rapid expansion equated to 30% of its prior holdings, a pace that outstripped Strategy's own ratio, as Strive added Bitcoin equivalent to 30.5% of its existing stack in one month, compared to Strategy's 10% over a similar timeframe. This impressive buying spree was primarily fueled by Strive’s SATA preferred shares, which raised an estimated $276 million in ATM proceeds during May. These proceeds constituted 12.4% of all digital credit ATM sales by dollar value during the period. Strive notably broke its own single-day ATM record on May 29, raising an estimated $87 million in one session, providing sufficient buying power for approximately 1,180 BTC.

Further illustrating innovation in capital markets, Strive announced a groundbreaking policy to commence paying SATA dividends every business day starting June 16. CEO Matt Cole proudly declared this to be "the first listed security in the history of U.S. capital markets to pay cash dividends every single business day." Strategy subsequently followed suit with its own dividend adjustment, securing shareholder approval on June 8 for twice-monthly STRC payouts. This change aims to stabilize STRC’s trading price closer to its $100 par value, mitigate cyclical volume drops often observed around ex-dividend dates, and ultimately enhance overall liquidity for investors.

Beyond these two leaders, the BitcoinTreasuries.net report highlighted other significant developments. SpaceX made the month’s largest single disclosure, revealing holdings of 18,712 BTC ahead of its anticipated June 12 IPO. This substantial amount represented over one-third of all public treasury additions before sales in May, positioning SpaceX to potentially enter the top ten public Bitcoin treasury leaderboard upon its IPO. Concurrently, American Bitcoin ascended to the No. 15 spot on the leaderboard after acquiring an additional 500 BTC in May, reflecting continued broader corporate adoption.