Key Takeaways
- • Bitcoin-focused perpetual preferred stock issuers have bought 135,979 BTC as of Oct. 5, representing more than 0.5% of bitcoin's total supply, according to Fidelity Digital Assets.
- • Issuance funded more than 22,000 BTC in March 2026, over 48,000 in April (including nearly 30,000 in a single week), and nearly 25,000 in May, with over $7 billion raised across the three months.
- • The preferred products have reached roughly $12 billion in size, a small fraction of a global fixed income market Fidelity values at about $150 trillion.
- • Spot bitcoin ETPs gathered 888,185 BTC in their first year, far more than the preferreds have accumulated so far.
- • Fidelity's research analyst Zack Wainwright frames the model as viable only if bitcoin's appreciation outpaces the cost of yield, a key condition for issuers.
Summary
Fidelity Digital Assets reports that bitcoin-focused perpetual preferred stock has rapidly emerged as a new source of bitcoin demand. As of Oct. 5, companies using the structure had collectively acquired 135,979 BTC, according to a report published Oct. 20 by research analyst Zack Wainwright. Strategy launched the first such product in July 2025, and other issuers have since followed.
The model works by issuing perpetual preferred stock with an attractive yield and directing the proceeds toward accumulating bitcoin. Wainwright noted that for issuers, the strategy only works if the appreciation of the underlying asset outpaces the cost of yield. Issuance activity accelerated sharply in 2026: more than 22,000 BTC were funded in March, over 48,000 in April including nearly 30,000 in a single week, and nearly 25,000 more in May. Across the three months, more than $7 billion was raised.
Fidelity placed the activity in a wider context. Spot bitcoin ETPs gathered 888,185 BTC in their first year, a considerably larger total than the preferreds have generated to date. Fidelity wrote that the success of the preferred products "suggests meaningful demand for a high-yield, fixed-income investment with a bitcoin focus." The report also pointed to bitcoin's historical compound annual growth rate exceeding fixed-income yields, alongside continued expansion of U.S. debt and the money supply.
The products currently represent about $12 billion within a global fixed income market valued at roughly $150 trillion. Fidelity described this as evidence of "vast, largely untapped potential for further investment in bitcoin-adjacent products within the fixed income space." With nearly 96% of all bitcoin already issued and the next halving less than two years away, the report concluded that even modest adoption within fixed income "could materially reshape bitcoin's supply-demand dynamics."
The model works by issuing perpetual preferred stock with an attractive yield and directing the proceeds toward accumulating bitcoin. Wainwright noted that for issuers, the strategy only works if the appreciation of the underlying asset outpaces the cost of yield. Issuance activity accelerated sharply in 2026: more than 22,000 BTC were funded in March, over 48,000 in April including nearly 30,000 in a single week, and nearly 25,000 more in May. Across the three months, more than $7 billion was raised.
Fidelity placed the activity in a wider context. Spot bitcoin ETPs gathered 888,185 BTC in their first year, a considerably larger total than the preferreds have generated to date. Fidelity wrote that the success of the preferred products "suggests meaningful demand for a high-yield, fixed-income investment with a bitcoin focus." The report also pointed to bitcoin's historical compound annual growth rate exceeding fixed-income yields, alongside continued expansion of U.S. debt and the money supply.
The products currently represent about $12 billion within a global fixed income market valued at roughly $150 trillion. Fidelity described this as evidence of "vast, largely untapped potential for further investment in bitcoin-adjacent products within the fixed income space." With nearly 96% of all bitcoin already issued and the next halving less than two years away, the report concluded that even modest adoption within fixed income "could materially reshape bitcoin's supply-demand dynamics."
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