Bitcoin's Mid-Month Rally Has a Suspicious Pattern — Is Michael Saylor's STRC Funding Loop Behind the Pump?

WHY IT MATTERS

Imagine someone keeps taking out new loans to buy gold, and every time they buy gold, the price goes up — which makes their existing gold worth more, which lets them borrow even more to buy more gold. That's essentially what critics say Strategy is doing with Bitcoin through its STRC funding mechanism. STRC is a type of preferred stock (think of it like a special class of shares) that Strategy sells to investors to raise cash, which it then uses to buy Bitcoin. For everyday crypto holders, this matters because if one company is responsible for a big chunk of Bitcoin's buying pressure, the price might not reflect genuine broad-based demand. And if things go south, that same company could be forced to sell, potentially causing a sharp crash. It's a reminder that even in decentralized crypto markets, big players can have outsized influence on price.