Solana-based onchain asset manager Solstice Finance introduced strcUSX, a two-tranche product that splits the dividend on Strategy's Nasdaq-listed STRC preferred stock into senior and junior Solana tokens, giving one holder priority to income and the other a higher-yielding first-loss position.
Solstice Tranches Strategy's STRC Dividend into Solana Tokens
10 August 2026 - 13:00 UTC
Claim of first
The platform, backed by $1bn digital asset investment firm Deus X Capital, said in a 10 Aug statement shared with Sandmark that strcUSX is the first product to structure a US-listed preferred stock dividend into tranched, composable tokens on Solana.
Solstice, which manages more than $500mn in digital assets across its USX – the protocol's Solana-native dollar-pegged stablecoin – and eUSX products, said Solstice holds the STRC shares in custody.
The dual tokens obtain economic exposure through actual STRC holdings held both onchain and through regulated offchain custody arrangements, a company spokesperson said in answer to questions from Sandmark.
"The protocol is not simply indexing or synthetically referencing STRC dividends. Users are acquiring exposure to vaults whose assets include actual STRC positions together with a small operational liquidity allocation. Any offchain holdings are managed through Solstice’s operating entities and custody infrastructure," the firm said.
Branded as "Stretch," STRC is formally Strategy's Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock. Perpetual means no maturity; the variable rate lets Strategy adjust the payout each month within limits set out in the prospectus. It was issued at $90 in July 2025 with a $100 stated amount and an initial 9% annual dividend; Strategy subsequently raised the rate to 12%, with dividends now paid semi-monthly. The rate is not fixed – Strategy resets it monthly to defend the $100 stated amount – and each payment requires a board declaration, though unpaid dividends accumulate.
Different risk profiles
STRC has become a core financing instrument for Strategy after raising about $2.47bn in its July 2025 issuance, but it has had a more mixed record as a price-stable income product. The shares have traded materially below their $100 stated amount for months, meaning holders continue to collect the dividend but sit on unrealized losses when the position is marked to its current market price, a mark-to-market loss. Strategy has boosted the payout and initiated a $1bn buyback program in response.
"strcUSX proves that YieldVault architecture scales beyond a single strategy," said Ben Nadareski, CEO of Solstice Labs. "Tranching that yield on DeFi rails means every participant gets exactly the risk profile they came for."
Risk and return profiles
Solstice's strcUSX divides the exposure into two tokens with different risk and return profiles.
The senior token, SR-strcUSX, is paid first and targets an annual percentage yield (APY) of about 7%. Outside a liquidation event, junior holders absorb realized losses before senior holders, giving the senior tranche priority on both dividend distributions and principal recovery. The junior tranche also sits in front of mark-to-market swings in the underlying STRC book, buffering the senior token's valuation from STRC's own price moves. Solstice is marketing SR-strcUSX to institutional and yield-focused investors seeking Strategy credit exposure with lower mark-to-market risk.
The junior token, JR-strcUSX, takes the residual yield after senior holders are paid and targets an APY of more than 20%. In exchange, junior holders absorb mark-to-market volatility on the underlying STRC position first. Solstice says the tranche's book value will be visible onchain in real time.
Shorter timetable
Solstice said investors can deposit USX into the strcUSX vault in exchange for either the senior or junior token. Rather than making separate dividend payments, the vault is designed to reflect STRC dividend income through a rising exchange rate, allowing returns to accumulate in the value of each tranche token. Investors can withdraw after a seven-day unlocking period, or exit sooner by paying a fee.
Its peers offer similar but not identical products to strcUSX. For example, Ondo Global Markets provides tokenized exposure to listed stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs) which it says are backed 1:1 by securities held with licensed US custodial broker-dealers, while dividends are automatically reflected through reinvestment in token pricing.
Backed Finance, whose xStocks brand offers asset-backed tracker certificates linked to equities and ETFs, using a custodial model and processing corporate actions.
Similar structure, different instruments
Structurally similar, Centrifuge and Tinlake's DROP and TIN interest-bearing ERC-20 tokens created senior and junior positions in traditional asset lending pools, with junior capital taking first losses and senior capital receiving priority. However, these structures are funded pools of receivables and other private-market assets rather than a traded US preferred stock.
Pendle Finance, meanwhile, provides a product that splits a yield-bearing position into principal and yield tokens, allowing future yield to trade separately from principal. A user who deposits a yield-bearing asset such as Staked ETH would receive a Principal Token (PT) and a Yield Token (YT).
Unrelated to eUSX
Solstice noted that the strcUSX yield source is structurally independent from its delta-neutral product eUSX, whose returns are linked to basis trading and treasury bills. eUSX was introduced on 30 Sept 2025, alongside Solstice's core USX stablecoin and its automated YieldVault program.
While strcUSX may offer a way to bring a tranched credit product into a more liquid, decentralized finance format, how strcUSX is received will depend on how investors assess the structure as further operational and legal details emerge.
