Bitcoin ’s recent advance has been driven not only by exchange-traded fund inflows and purchases from large holders, but also by sustained buying from Strategy, the treasury company led by Michael Saylor, according to Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan. In his view, Strategy and its perpetual preferred stock, STRC, have been the main force behind Bitcoin ’s latest move higher.
Bitcoin has risen about 21% from its February low of $62,822, trading near $76,486 on Wednesday after moving between $75,849 and $79,321 over the previous seven days, according to CoinGecko. Hougan said Strategy bought $7.2 billion of Bitcoin over the past eight weeks, a pace that has meaningfully influenced market demand. He noted that ETF purchases have also been substantial, totaling $3.8 billion since March 1, while long-term holders have returned to the market.
Strategy remains the largest publicly listed corporate holder of Bitcoin . Between April 20 and April 26, the company added 3,273 Bitcoin for roughly $255 million, lifting its total holdings to 818,334 BTC. That increase pushed Strategy’s balance sheet past the Bitcoin held by BlackRock on behalf of clients, which stands at about 812,300 coins.
Hougan expects the buying to continue, supported by capital raised through STRC. He said Strategy issues the preferred stock in order to acquire more Bitcoin , and that most of the proceeds are deployed into BTC purchases on the open market. He argued that STRC’s 11.5% yield, backed by a Bitcoin reserve exceeding $40 billion, may remain attractive to income-focused investors at a time when yields elsewhere have weakened.
The company’s accumulation strategy has also fueled speculation about how quickly it could approach the estimated Bitcoin holdings linked to Satoshi Nakamoto. Galaxy Digital’s Alex Thorn has said Strategy could overtake those holdings within two years if current buying continues. For now, however, the company’s pace has varied sharply, ranging this year from a February purchase of 855 Bitcoin to a much larger acquisition of 34,164 coins in mid-April.Robinhood reported first-quarter results that fell short of Wall Street expectations, sending its shares lower in after-hours trading. The online brokerage missed estimates on both earnings per share and revenue, even as it remained profitable for the period. The stock declined 9.4% after the announcement.
The company posted earnings of $0.38 per share on revenue of $1.07 billion, below analyst forecasts by 11.6% and 6.1%, respectively. Net income rose 3% from a year earlier to $346 million. The weaker-than-expected top line was driven in part by a sharp drop in crypto-related activity, which has been a volatile contributor to Robinhood’s business in recent quarters.
Crypto transaction revenue fell 47% year over year to $134 million, down from $252 million a year earlier. Trading volume in digital assets dropped 48% to $24 billion over the same period. It was the third consecutive quarter in which transaction-based crypto revenue declined, underscoring how sensitive the business remains to swings in market sentiment and asset prices.
Chief executive Vladimir Tenev said the decline reflected market volatility, while emphasizing that the company’s longer-term focus is on building crypto infrastructure and expanding assets with practical utility. Robinhood continues to invest in blockchain-related products as it looks to diversify revenue beyond traditional brokerage activity and attract more retail users.
One of the firm’s newer initiatives, Robinhood Predictions, delivered its strongest quarter to date. The Kalshi-integrated markets platform saw 8.8 billion event contracts traded in the quarter, a 780% increase from Q2 2025, the product’s first full quarter. Robinhood said the platform is pacing toward about $3 billion in trading volume in April, which would make it one of its best months since launch in March 2025.
Revenue in Robinhood’s “other” category surged 320% to $147 million, helping offset weakness in crypto trading. Activity at Bitstamp, which was acquired by Robinhood in June 2025, was not included in the crypto figures. The exchange recorded $42 billion in trading volume for the quarter, down 13% from the prior quarter.
