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Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy Inc. (Nasdaq: MSTR), identified digital credit as the next billion-dollar business opportunity in finance. In an August 7th post on X, he suggested entrepreneurs explore this category. Saylor's post included a chart showing the effective yields of four of Strategy's digital credit products as of 11:10 AM EDT. Leading was Stride Preferred Shares (STRD) with a 15.29% yield, followed by Stretch Preferred Shares (STRC) at 12.63%, Strike Preferred Shares (STRK) at 12.08%, and Strife Preferred Shares (STRF) at 10.38%. These preferred securities allow Strategy to raise capital from income-seeking investors, offering various dividend rates, risk levels, and positions in the company's capital structure. Strategy has developed a suite of preferred shares classified as digital credit instruments. For instance, the Stretch Preferred Shares (STRC) are perpetual, variable-rate securities. This approach applies established credit market structures to companies with digital asset-based balance sheets, connecting capital-seeking issuers with yield-seeking investors through Wall Street-like products. Saylor positioned these as a "digital credit stack," built upon but not backed by Strategy's bitcoin reserve, expanding the company's capital access while targeting yield-focused buyers. The billion-dollar potential lies in creating a scalable, replicable business model where issuers can raise capital via tailored income securities and investors can select products based on yield, risk, and capital priority. For Strategy, this model attracts capital from investors seeking income without direct bitcoin exposure, while the company maintains its broader bitcoin strategy. Growing dividend obligations have influenced how Strategy manages its bitcoin holdings and cash reserves, with the company selling some bitcoin to fund preferred share payments and build a USD reserve for liquidity.

Wall Street Morning Report: US stocks staged a deep V-shaped recovery following a mild CPI report, with AI cloud, storage, and optical communication sectors leading the rally. Major indexes were mixed: the Dow dipped slightly, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained, nearing record highs. The July CPI data met expectations, with core inflation hitting its slowest pace since March 2021, further reducing expectations for a September Fed rate hike. Market focus shifted decisively towards AI infrastructure. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 2.49%. AI cloud providers NEBIUS and CoreWeave surged 34% and 19% respectively on strong earnings and massive order backlogs. Optical communication stocks like Lumentum and Coherent also posted significant gains. The storage sector rallied broadly, with SK Hynix and Micron among the advancers. Meanwhile, major tech giants saw divergence. Nvidia rose over 3%, while Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta closed lower. In commodities, gold and silver remained strong, while oil prices retreated as markets awaited developments in the Strait of Hormuz. The US federal budget deficit widened significantly in July, raising long-term concerns. Key upcoming events include US PPI data, Sandisk's investor day, and the SEC's 13F filings deadline, which will reveal institutional holdings.

Figure Technology Solutions reported a significant increase in its second-quarter performance. The company's consumer loan marketplace volume reached $4.3 billion, a 132% year-over-year rise. Its quarterly profit nearly tripled, with net income surging 192% to $87 million. Net revenue more than doubled to $226 million, and the net income margin expanded to 38.8%. The marketplace volume includes various loans, with $2.8 billion (65%) coming from third-party loans traded on Figure Connect. Volume on this marketplace, launched in June 2024, grew 262% year-over-year. The company added 102 loan-origination partners, bringing the total to 489. CEO Michael Tannenbaum noted weekly loan applications exceeded $1 billion in July, and the company forecasts third-quarter marketplace volume of $4.8 billion to $5.2 billion. Analysts had anticipated strong results, partly due to blockchain data enabling real-time tracking of lending activity.