Ripple CEO Muzzles the Money Printer: "Saylor's STRC Show Is Financial Theater, Not Bitcoin 📉

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse went on CNBC on Friday and called out Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor's preferred-stock-fueled Bitcoin acquisition machine as "financial engineering" that has distracted the broader crypto market. "Financial engineering does not drive long-term value … long-term value of any digital asset is going to be driven by utility," Garlinghouse said. He added that "Team Michael Saylor wasn't focused on the right stuff and that has hurt the overall market," while reaffirming that he remains bullish on $BTC itself.

Garlinghouse pointed specifically to Strategy's STRC preferred shares, which carry an 11.5% cumulative annual dividend and are designed to trade near $100. He described STRC trading roughly 25% below par, hitting a record low on Thursday after sliding as much as 26% below face value, as a "damning indictment" of the funding model. For about a year, Strategy has issued preferred securities such as STRC to raise cash for additional Bitcoin purchases, an obligation that ties the company to recurring dividend payouts.

The criticism comes as pressure on Strategy's stack of tactics has mounted. CryptoQuant said in a report that Strategy should pause its Bitcoin buying and rebuild cash reserves, noting that the coverage cushion behind STRC's dividends has thinned from more than seven years to about 14 months. Strategy has already paused STRC issuance when the shares trade below $100, since that is the level at which its share-and-buy engine stalls.

Strategy's common stock, $MSTR, also fell to its lowest level since February 2024 and closed around $82 on Friday as $BTC slipped below $59,000, briefly touching just under $60,000. Benchmark-StoneX analyst Mark Palmer pushed back on the doom framing, arguing that Strategy's funding engine has become "less efficient" rather than broken and rejecting comparisons between STRC and assets that have collapsed outright.