BMNR Preferred Shares: The ETH Version of Strategy’s STRC
Alchemy Research | April 2026 | Issue #002
In my core BMNR thesis, I laid out why the company is more than just an ETH treasury play. The combination of its rapidly growing Ethereum holdings and the newly launched MAVAN staking platform creates multiple durable cash flows.
One question that keeps coming up: could BMNR launch its own version of Strategy’s STRC preferred shares?
Why BMNR’s Version Is Structurally Stronger
While BMNR is still approaching its 5% ETH supply target, the preferred-share strategy outlined below would work best and deliver its strongest results once that milestone is reached and the entire treasury is fully staked through MAVAN. At that point, simple math projects approximately $400 million in annual staking rewards, paid directly in ETH by the Ethereum protocol itself.
The entire thesis outlined below is built on that future state, when BMNR has reached the full 5%.
(Note: Current holdings stand at 4,976,485 ETH as of the April 20, 2026 announcement. At the full 5% target of ~6.035 million ETH and the current 2.88% staking yield, this produces around ~$400 million in annual USD rewards at ETH prices of approximately $2,300.)
The key advantage is that the USD value of those staking rewards rises automatically as the price of ETH increases. Staking rewards are ETH-denominated. If ETH doubles in price, the USD value of the staking income roughly doubles. That gives BMNR dramatically more capacity to pay, and eventually grow, USD dividends on preferred shares. They would need to convert only a portion of those ETH rewards to USD to fund the cash payments, but the key point is that only a fraction of the staking income needs to be sold. The rest stays in ETH and compounds. The higher the ETH price, the smaller the fraction that needs to be converted to cover the dividend obligation.
This is the key structural advantage over STRC. The income engine is native to the protocol. It does not rely on capital markets, debt issuance, or asset sales. It just runs.
Who This Opens the Door To
This is a point worth spending time on because it is bigger than it sounds.
A large category of investors, including income funds, dividend-focused portfolios, pension allocations, and retail investors living off yield, will never buy BMNR common stock. The volatility is too high. The balance sheet is too crypto-heavy. It simply does not fit their mandate or their risk tolerance.
A preferred share paying 10-12% cash dividends, backed by real protocol income, is a completely different product. It sits in a different part of a portfolio. It gets evaluated on yield and coverage, not on ETH price charts.
Strategy proved this works. The investor base that bought STRC was largely not the same investor base that owns Strategy common stock. BMNR could do the same thing, accessing a pool of capital that currently has no path into the BMNR story at all.
The Proposed Structure
BMNR could issue perpetual preferred shares with the following features:
A 10-12% target annual cash dividend paid monthly or quarterly in USD
Funded entirely by ETH staking rewards (converted to USD as needed) plus potential MAVAN platform fees on external assets
Zero dilution to common stock shareholders
Capital raised can be deployed into moonshot investments like Beast Industries and Eightco, MAVAN expansion, share buybacks, or other strategic opportunities, while the fully staked 5% treasury continues generating ~$400 million in annual staking rewards to support the dividends.
The flywheel here is straightforward. Preferred capital is deployed into high-conviction opportunities. At the same time, the fully staked 5% treasury generates ~$400 million in annual ETH-denominated staking rewards. Higher ETH prices increase the USD value of those rewards, leading to greater dividend coverage plus a growing surplus that can be reinvested or used to support a larger preferred program over time.
The Math Gets Better as ETH Rises
At the 5% target of roughly 6.035 million ETH, fully staked at BMNR’s current 2.88% yield, the annual staking rewards project to approximately $400 million in USD terms at current prices. That is before any ETH price appreciation and before any external MAVAN fees are included. The USD value of those rewards scales directly with ETH price.
These figures are based solely on BMNR’s own treasury staking rewards and do not include any potential MAVAN platform fees from external assets, which would provide additional upside.
Here is a conservative example:
Issue $1 billion of preferred shares at 12% yield. That creates a $120 million annual USD dividend obligation.
At today’s ETH price of $2,300: ~174,000 ETH in annual staking rewards converts to roughly $400 million in USD, providing comfortable coverage with around $280 million surplus.
If ETH rises 50% to ~$3,450: those same ~174,000 ETH in rewards convert to around $600 million in USD, covering the $120 million dividend with around $480 million surplus.
If ETH doubles to ~$4,600: the same ~174,000 ETH converts to around $800 million in USD, creating massive headroom for larger preferred programs or higher dividends over time.
Even at $2 billion of preferred issuance, which creates a $240 million annual obligation, the structure remains well-covered today and becomes increasingly well-covered as ETH appreciates.
This is the opposite dynamic of STRC. With STRC, rising Bitcoin price helps common shareholders but does nothing to structurally improve the preferred dividend coverage. With BMNR’s version, rising ETH price directly strengthens the preferred program. Both the common shareholders and the preferred holders benefit as ETH succeeds.
The surplus matters too. At the 5% target, after paying a $120 million annual dividend obligation, BMNR would still have around $280 million left over in converted USD. That is not idle cash. The converted USD essentially becomes another active capital allocation tool on top of everything else the company is already running.
This Fits Tom Lee’s 2026 Roadmap
Chairman Tom Lee has already laid out where this is heading:
“We plan to expand across additional proof-of-stake networks and critical blockchain infrastructure over time, and through 2026, we’ll grow our efforts in areas such as on-chain vaults, post-quantum client development, and more.”
On-chain vaults would package MAVAN staking yields into accessible products for traditional investors. A public Yield Shares program would be the listed, regulated counterpart to that, creating a complete yield distribution engine that sits across both on-chain and public markets.
BMNR would not just be the largest ETH treasury company. It would become a yield infrastructure platform with self-reinforcing economics that improve automatically as ETH performs.
Risks Worth Taking Seriously
This remains speculative. BMNR has not announced any preferred share plans. It is worth being honest about the real risks here rather than glossing over them.
The main execution risk is that institutional adoption of the MAVAN platform may ramp up more slowly than expected. This would mean less platform fee revenue and a smaller surplus. However, the preferred dividend coverage math still works comfortably based on BMNR’s own treasury staking rewards alone. The surplus would simply be smaller and the overall flywheel would build more gradually.
There is also the regulatory process for a large preferred issuance to consider. Preferred stock offerings of this size require SEC registration and significant legal work. That takes time and adds execution risk, though it is not an unusual process for a NYSE-listed company.
Ethereum staking yields also vary over time. The current yield is 2.88% based on BMNR’s own reported figures. Protocol changes or a large increase in the total amount of ETH staked across the network could compress yields modestly. This is real but manageable given the scale of BMNR’s holdings.
Finally, a portion of ETH staking rewards would need to be converted to USD to fund the cash dividends. This introduces some FX-style exposure between ETH price at conversion and the dividend obligation. At the projected surplus levels this is comfortable, but it is still a real operational consideration.
Bottom Line
BMNR does not need to launch Preferred Shares. The core treasury, staking, and MAVAN flywheel is already powerful on its own.
But the option is real. And the economics are meaningfully stronger than Strategy’s STRC model because the underlying yield is ETH-denominated and grows with ETH price.
As ETH appreciates, dividend coverage improves automatically. The surplus compounds in ETH, which stakes and generates even more rewards. It creates a powerful compounding cycle.
This structure would broaden the investor base significantly by bringing in income investors who currently have no path into BMNR. It would raise fresh capital with zero dilution to common shareholders. And it would align perfectly with Tom Lee’s stated vision for on-chain vaults and infrastructure expansion.
It would split the investor base the way Strategy did with STRC, but with a cleaner, protocol-native engine whose economics get stronger as the underlying asset performs.
Not financial advice. All views are my own. BMNR has not announced any plans for preferred shares or yield products. Data from company announcements as of April 20, 2026.