Bitcoin Holds $76.9K as U.S.-China Power Race Heats Up, Strategy's Preferred Equity Fuels BTC Stack

Bitcoin News

Recent commentary from Washington underscores that the next great-power contest may hinge on monetary infrastructure rather than military hardware. China has been accelerating digital yuan rollouts across new partner banks while preserving the second-largest sovereign bitcoin reserve, giving Beijing leverage across both centralized and decentralized payment rails. Lawmakers warn that U.S. dollar dominance now faces a parallel challenge in digital asset infrastructure, where mining hardware supply chains remain heavily concentrated in Chinese hands. Treating bitcoin as a financial sideshow, several policy voices argue, hands strategic ground to a rival pursuing a deliberate dual-track digital-asset playbook spanning surveillance-grade central bank money and decentralized reserves.

The case for treating bitcoin as a national-security asset has gained traction inside the Pentagon. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently affirmed during a congressional hearing that bitcoin can both project American power and counter China's digital authoritarianism. That framing positions the asset as more than a speculative instrument: it is a censorship-resistant settlement layer anchored to a transparent consensus mechanism that adversaries cannot freely manipulate. Combined with the proposed Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and mining-onshoring legislation, the policy momentum suggests Washington is reframing bitcoin from regulatory afterthought to strategic resource — even as Beijing continues to expand cross-border digital yuan corridors and stockpile coins seized through prior enforcement actions.

On the corporate side, TD Cowen lifted its price target on Strategy (MSTR) to $400, implying upside of more than 140% from recent trading levels near $166. The brokerage maintained a buy rating, citing faster-than-expected bitcoin purchases and a refined capital structure that supports bitcoin-per-share growth. Strategy now holds 843,738 BTC — roughly $64 billion at current prices and over 4% of the 21-million circulating supply cap. Between May 11 and May 17 alone, the firm added 24,869 BTC for approximately $2.01 billion, with the brokerage now projecting close to 100,000 BTC accumulated this quarter.

A central plank of the bullish thesis is the bitcoin-per-1,000-fully-diluted-shares metric, which has climbed from 1.95 at the close of 2025 to 2.21 today. The increase signals that accretion from bitcoin purchases has outpaced dilution from new share issuance — a critical benchmark for investors tracking Strategy's aggressive capital deployment. Per-share bitcoin density is one of the few yardsticks that translates the company's balance-sheet experiment into a tangible shareholder metric, and rising figures suggest that recent financing rounds have been productive rather than dilutive in net terms despite ongoing equity issuance directed toward continuous spot accumulation.

The mechanism behind that improvement is increasingly leaning on preferred equity rather than plain common stock. During the second quarter, Strategy raised roughly $1.95 billion through preferred share issuance, channeling most of the proceeds into spot bitcoin purchases. Analysts describe the structure as less dilutive to common shareholders while preserving the firm's capacity to accumulate. The shift also broadens the investor base into yield-oriented buyers willing to hold a hybrid security tied to a bitcoin-heavy balance sheet, expanding the financing toolkit beyond convertibles and at-the-market equity programs that dominated prior accumulation cycles and signaling a maturing capital strategy.

Strategy has also tightened its credit profile by repurchasing approximately $1.5 billion in convertible notes at a discount, a move that reduces future refinancing risk and trims potential share dilution upon conversion. Analysts framed the transaction as a constructive signal for both equity holders and creditors, particularly given the firm's leveraged exposure to bitcoin price swings. Shares remain volatile and have declined roughly 60% over the past year, echoing the broader bear market pressure that has dragged MSTR well below its 52-week high above $450. The internal valuation model now projects more than $15 billion in bitcoin-related gains during 2026, underpinning the elevated price target.

Spot price hovers around $76,874 with a marginal 0.23% gain over 24 hours, leaving bitcoin in a sideways consolidation between layered support at $76,109, $73,925, and $72,673 and overhead resistance at $78,066, $79,351, and $82,763. The RSI at 44.7 sits in neutral-bearish territory while the MACD continues to signal bearish momentum, suggesting buyers must reclaim $78,066 to flip the short-term structure. A decisive break below $76,109 would expose the $73,925 zone next, while sustained closes above $79,351 would invalidate the current bias and reopen a bull market path toward $82,763.