Morning Minute: Strategy’s MSTR and STRC Crash to 52-Week Lows

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And check out our new daily news show covering all of the top stories in 5 minutes, downloadable on Apple Pod or Spotify.

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GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors fall 1-2% as BTC goes sub-$60k before rebounding
• Micron stock jumps 19% pre-market after massive earnings beat, lifts markets
• MSTR and STRC fall to new 1-year lows as Saylor concerns grow
• Kalshi seeks $40B valuation in latest raise, pacing to $25B+ in volume this month
• Brian Armstrong hints at more acquisitions for Coinbase following Deribit deal

📉 Strategy’s MSTR and STRC Crash to 52-Week Lows

Strategy’s common stock and its preferred shares both cratered to 52-week lows on Wednesday. The treasury model Michael Saylor built is being stress-tested in real time.

MSTR fell 9.35% to $94.13, touching a 52-week low of $92.28 intraday, a staggering fall from its 52-week high of $457.22. STRC, the dividend-paying preferred share Saylor has leaned on to fund Bitcoin purchases, dropped 7.41% to $80.84, also a 52-week low and now well below its $100 par value. Bitcoin itself slid to $59,200 during the selloff, but recovered to $61k after Micron smashed earnings. Both MSTR and STRC recovered modestly after hours as well.

The billion-dollar question now—will the reckoning reaching a head? And if so, when? Monday’s $300 million cash raise was meant to steady STRC, and three days later it printed a new low anyway. It seems clear that the market isn’t convinced cash alone fixes the problem. The deeper issue is the doom loop. The more MSTR falls, the less ammo Saylor has to buy Bitcoin or even raise cash to pay off his debt (although he does have ~10 months debt covered with his current cash pile).

Some think Saylor should sell a massive chunk of BTC now and just reset. Others think that BTC whales are actually trying to blow up Saylor and drive BTC lower to force his hand. We can’t be sure all the mechanics at play. But one thing is certain—the roller coaster ride isn’t over yet. Buckle up…

🎯 Kalshi Targets a $40 Billion Valuation as Sports Betting Drives Volume

Kalshi is in talks to raise fresh funding at a roughly $40 billion valuation, according to a Financial Times report. That’s nearly double the $22 billion valuation from the $1 billion round it closed just 3 months ago in April.

The jump comes as trading volume exploded to more than $17 billion last month and is pacing to $25B+ in June, up from under $5 billion a year earlier, with sports-related contracts making up about 65% of that total. For perspective, Kalshi has already cleared $5B+ in World Cup volume and the tourney isn’t half over.

To give credit where it’s due, it’s not just sports driving Kalshi’s growth. Kalshi’s crypto markets have grown into a $1B/week market sector as well, 20x growth since December 2025. And now they’re rolling out legal perps which should drive those volumes even higher. Overall, Kalshi has nearly 3x the open interest of Polymarket across market sectors, with $1.1B compares to $484M.

That growth is leading to a massive spike in fees as well. Last June, Kalshi made $8M in fees. This June, they already cleared $180M with 5 days left in the month. That puts them over $800M in fees in H1 2026, with 10-20% growth month-over-month. That $40B price tag may very well look cheap at the end of the year…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

• Meme leaders were red; DOGE -4%, SHIB -4%, PEPE -7%, PENGU -3%, TRUMP -3%, BONK -4%; recent runner Memecore dropped 71%
• World (+550%), Hama (+61x) and TripleT (+25%) led movers on Solana
• Base movers included EDGE (+40%) and SYND (+44%)
• Meme-stock traders piled into Wendy’s as a possible next GameStop, sending the fast-food chain’s shares sharply higher as retail investors hunt for a fresh rallying cause

📈 Myriad Market of the Day

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

• NFT leaders were mixed; Punks +1.6% at 32 ETH, BAYC -3% at 8.8 ETH, Pudgy -3% at 4.5 ETH; Hypurr’s -2% at 196 HYPE
• Opepen (+17%) and NPC (+14%) led top movers