Strategy makes its case to escape S&P’s B- junk credit rating

Technique, the biggest Bitcoin treasury agency, is making a case for an escape from its B- junk credit standing after constructing billions of {dollars} in liquidity and lowering debt.

On Sept. 10, Technique’s head of investor relations, Chaitanya Jain, said the Michael Saylor-led firm has strengthened its steadiness sheet within the three areas S&P World Rankings beforehand recognized as potential paths to an improve: greenback liquidity, convertible debt, and capital-market entry throughout Bitcoin stress.

S&P affirmed Technique’s B- issuer credit standing with a secure outlook in December 2025, after initially assigning the grade in October. The score stays six notches under BBB-, the bottom rung of funding grade.

Technique builds the money cushion S&P needed

The sharpest shift has come within the quantity of greenback liquidity sitting between Technique’s Bitcoin holdings and its monetary obligations.

Jain mentioned greenback liquidity elevated from $54 million on Sept. 30, 2025, to $6.54 billion as of Sept. 7, giving the corporate roughly 4 years of capability to fund curiosity and most popular dividends with out counting on Bitcoin gross sales.

Technique’s newest regulatory submitting breaks that quantity into two swimming pools. Its designated USD Reserve stood at $5.10 billion, whereas one other $1.44 billion was held as USD Money. The reserve is earmarked for most popular dividends and curiosity, whereas the extra money can be used for Bitcoin purchases, safety repurchases, and different capital-management functions.

That leaves Technique with significantly extra flexibility during times when issuing new securities turns into tough.

S&P had recognized the corporate’s liquidity construction as a central weak point as a result of its debt curiosity, maturities and most popular dividends are payable in {dollars} whereas most of its belongings are held in Bitcoin. The company warned {that a} extreme decline in Bitcoin mixed with decreased capital-market entry might finally drive Technique to promote the asset at depressed costs.

The corporate has additionally decreased the debt instrument S&P singled out as a possible supply of strain.

Convertible debt has fallen to $6.71 billion from $8.21 billion after Technique repurchased $1.5 billion of its 0% convertible senior notes due 2029 in Could. It paid about $1.38 billion for the notes, an 8% low cost to par.

Jain mentioned internet debt, measured in opposition to the corporate’s rising greenback liquidity, has consequently dropped from about $8.16 billion after the third quarter of 2025 to roughly $174 million as of Sept. 7.

That calculation doesn’t remove Technique’s broader obligations. The corporate nonetheless carries billions of {dollars} of perpetual most popular inventory with dividend commitments that stay a part of the liquidity burden S&P considers.

Technique’s financing machine remained open via Bitcoin stress

Technique can also be pointing to its capacity to maintain promoting securities via 2026 as proof that the financing channel S&P feared might weaken throughout a Bitcoin downturn has remained open.

Jain mentioned the corporate raised $21 billion throughout frequent and most popular fairness from January via August, securing capital in each month of the interval. Throughout this era, BTC value dumped greater than 30% and fell to below $60,000. Its worth has since recovered close to $80,000 as of press time.

Regardless of this value motion, Technique continued to draw vital investor fundraising.

S&P made continued market entry central to each side of its rankings outlook. The company mentioned it might downgrade Technique if deteriorating Bitcoin costs impaired its capacity to lift capital or elevated the probability that it couldn’t handle out-of-the-money convertible debt.

Its upside case ran in the other way. An extended-term improve would require stronger greenback liquidity, decreased reliance on convertible debt, and continued capital entry via a interval of Bitcoin stress.

Bitcoin focus stays the hurdle

The balance-sheet enhancements go away S&P with a unique credit score profile to evaluate, however they don’t take away the structural characteristic that has weighed most closely on Technique’s score.

Technique stays overwhelmingly uncovered to Bitcoin.

As of Sept. 9, the corporate held 845,050 BTC acquired for $63.73 billion at a mean value of about $75,412 per coin. That leaves a lot of its steadiness sheet uncovered to an asset able to sharp drawdowns, even after Technique constructed a bigger greenback cushion in opposition to its cost obligations.

S&P highlighted that focus threat, saying the corporate’s Bitcoin-heavy treasury focus and relatively small software program enterprise restricted the potential for a better score.

The query now’s whether or not the brand new liquidity and debt profile offers sufficient safety in opposition to that threat to justify a reassessment.

S&P has taken no contemporary score motion for the reason that newest balance-sheet modifications, and Jain stopped wanting predicting one. He mentioned:

“Extra liquidity. Much less debt. Continued funding entry. Any score improve stays S&P’s choice.”

The timing might quickly put that argument to the check. S&P mentioned in October 2025 that an improve was unlikely inside 12 months, a interval that runs via late October 2026.