Strategy (MSTR) introduced its first non-U.S. perpetual preferred product, Stream (STRE), in November, aiming to tap demand across the European Economic Area (EEA).
However, it didn’t pan out the way Michael Saylor’s firm intended.
The preferred share was issued with a stated value of EUR100 ($115) per share, pays a 10% annual dividend, and sits above common equity in the capital structure. STRE was positioned as a European analogue to Stretch (STRC), the company’s high-yield money-market-style preferred share. Strategy ultimately raised $715 million, pricing the instrument at a 20% discount to EUR80 per share due to market conditions and demand.
While, in theory, the financial product sounded good, since its issuance, however, STRE has struggled to gain traction. There has also been little public communication from the company about the product, and it has since been removed from the company’s dashboard.
So what happened?
Khing Oei, founder and CEO of Treasury, a bitcoin treasury company based in the Netherlands, has pointed to several structural reasons why STRE may not have taken off, despite Europe being a sufficiently large addressable market.
First, STRE is difficult to access, according to Oei. The product is listed on Luxembourg’s Euro MTF, a venue that lacks user-friendly distribution. Interactive Brokers, one of the largest global brokerage platforms, does not offer STRE, and many other retail-focused platforms also do not support trading in the instrument.
Then there is the lack of transparent historical pricing and reliable market data. Limited visibility across platforms such as TradingView hinders adoption, as investors struggle to assess liquidity and performance. At present, TradingView displays a $39 billion market capitalisation for STRE alongside trading volume of just 1.3k.
The future?
What will happen to STRE, given the issues it is facing?
Oei suggests that STRE should be relisted on alternative venues.
Dutch financial and trading infrastructure, for example, offers stronger distribution, deeper market making, tighter bid-ask spreads, and broader retail accessibility. These conditions are likely more conducive to scaling the adoption of the financial product.
While executive chairman Michael Saylor has previously played down expansion into markets such as Japan, it remains an open question whether Strategy will double down on Europe as a growth opportunity, or instead continue to focus primarily on the U.S. market, where it has four perpetual preferred share products.
