Strategy holds 780,897 BTC valued at over $59 billion. The BlackRock crypto fund IBIT holds 798,026 BTC. This gap, of around 17,000 pieces, could close this week. The detail missing from most headlines, however, is how the mechanics actually work: Strategy sold a financial instrument called STRC to raise liquidity, then deployed that liquidity directly into Bitcoin.
Last week, STRC posted back-to-back trading days with over $1 billion in volume. Estimates from Bitcoin for Corporations suggest the activity could result in a purchase of nearly 30,000 BTC, more than enough to push the strategy beyond BlackRock’s IBIT for the first time. The question is whether the SEC filing due April 20 confirms this.
This development comes as Bitcoin holds above $76,000, up +2% daily, as trading volume reaches over $41.9 billion, highlighting renewed demand for the leading digital asset.
(SOURCE: TradingView)
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How close is the strategy to toppling BlackRock’s IBIT in Bitcoin Holdings?
The calculation is simple. The strategy needs to purchase more than 17,129 BTC to surpass IBIT’s current holdings of 798,026 BTC. At recent prices near $75,000 per coin, that’s about $1.2 billion worth of Bitcoin. Based on STRC’s recent trading volumes, analysts believe the strategy may have raised enough to fund a purchase nearly twice that threshold.
STRC – short for Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, is essentially a financial product that the strategy sells to institutional investors to raise capital. Think of it as a corporate IOU that pays investors an 11.5% annual dividend while trading at a stable price of $100. Investors get reliable income; The strategy benefits from a stable liquidity pipeline that it routes directly to Bitcoin purchases. It’s a financing machine, and it’s running at full speed.
STRATEGY SURPASSES BLACKROCK AS LARGEST HOLDER OF BITCOIN
Saylor’s strategy has officially surpassed BlackRock’s IBIT ETF, now holding ~815,061 BTC compared to ~802,824 BTC for $IBIT.
The reversal comes after his last purchase of 34,164 $BTC for ~$2.54 billion last week, its third largest purchase… pic.twitter.com/Iy828mJYAv
– Coinbureau (@coinbureau) April 21, 2026
STRATEGY SURPASSES BLACKROCK AS LARGEST HOLDER OF BITCOINStrategy’s most recent disclosed purchase added 13,927 BTC at an average price of $75,000 per coin, a $1 billion purchase funded entirely by proceeds from STRC. If the current week’s STRC activity raised $2 billion or more, as volume trends suggest, an acquisition of 25,000-30,000 BTC becomes plausible. This would push Strategy’s total past 800,000 BTC and free up IBIT’s holdings with some margin.
Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy, posted “Think Even ₿igger” on X on April 19 with a screenshot of the company’s Bitcoin portfolio tracker. Investors who closely follow Strategy treat these publications as a reliable early signal – historically, a cryptic publication from Saylor precedes an official SEC Form 8-K filing by several days. This pattern has repeated itself enough times to function as its own market signal. Saylor buy signals have become a closely watched indicator of BTC price momentum.
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What Strategy Overtaking BlackRock Crypto IBIT Would Really Mean for BTC Price
If the purchase goes through on the estimated scale, it would make Strategy the second-largest Bitcoin holder in the world, behind Satoshi Nakamoto, whose coins have never moved. Outperforming BlackRock, crypto IBIT has real symbolic weight: a single corporate treasury surpassing the flagship fund of the world’s largest asset manager is not routine data.
Demand mechanisms are also important here. When BlackRock’s IBIT accumulates Bitcoin, it does so through the ETF’s authorized participant structure: market makers buy BTC to create new fund shares.
The strategy buys directly, removes coins from circulation and deposits them into a corporate treasury without a buyback mechanism. This is a structurally different supply pressure. More coins are permanently locked than are held in a fund that investors can exit.
(SOURCE: The Block)
The bullish scenario: If the strategy deploys $2 billion or more into Bitcoin this week, it adds sustained directional buying pressure at a time when institutional accumulation is already accelerating. The caveat scenario: The price of Bitcoin at the time of deployment, not the amount collected, determines how many coins are actually purchased. A price rise between STRC settlement and BTC purchase reduces the coin count, even if the dollar figure holds.
Watch Strategy’s SEC Form 8-K filing, due by April 22-23, for confirmation. IBIT’s weekly entry data, typically updated on Mondays via on-chain trackers, will show whether the BlackRock crypto also adds to its stack in the same window. The gap could narrow or widen before the dust settles.
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The post Strategy Could Surpass BlackRock Crypto IBIT in Bitcoin Holdings with STRC Raise appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
