News Block: Bond Yields Hit a 20-Year High, Mortgages Break 7%, and Bitcoin Price Held Anyway

Natalie Brunell (0:00)

Welcome to the Coin Stories news block, powered exclusively by Ledn. I'm Natalie Brunell, and in about 10 minutes or less, I'll provide you with insightful updates on Bitcoin, financial markets, and the global economy. Everything you need to know in one block. Let's go.

The most important number in the world right now isn't Bitcoin's price. It's nearly 5.3%. That's the yield on the US 10-year treasury, the highest in almost 20 years, and still climbing, by the way. It's what the US government pays on its debt, and it sets the price of your mortgage, your car loan, your credit card, nearly everything you borrow. The average 30-year mortgage crossed 7% last week. It's now close to 7.5%. And the head economist at the National Association of Realtors says to expect 7% as the new normal. Now, as you know, the Fed raised rates this month. So did Japan and Europe. Oil is above $105, and inflation won't come down. So lenders are demanding more. And Washington now pays over $1 trillion a year in interest alone. Some on Wall Street are calling this a bond apocalypse. Now, for all of 2026, this kind of spike in bonds crushed Bitcoin. It's one of the reasons the price ended up under $58,000 in July. Bitcoin pays no interest. So when the government pays 5% risk free, the old playbook says sell. But this time, Bitcoin's been holding up really well. It hit over $87,000 last Monday. It's highest since January, then dipped to about $82,000 when yield spiked. But now, it's sitting in the low $83,000. So it's holding up very well while gold has been falling. And the money kept flowing into the Bitcoin ETFs. They took in $2.4 billion last week, their biggest week since last October, flipping the 2026 flows positive after being nearly $6 billion underwater in July. So sit with that. The government is paying over 5% to borrow, and billions are still choosing an asset that pays no interest. Those buyers are not chasing yield. They're getting out of something. When the world's safest borrower has to pay 2007 rates, it's because the world is less sure its money holds value. And an asset that nobody can print stops looking like a gamble and starts looking like a place to stand. And you're not just hearing that from hardcore Bitcoiners. Rick Edelman named the number one independent financial advisor in America three times by Barron's, built a $350 billion firm. And he just told a room of executives in New York on Monday that the classic 60-40 stock and bond portfolio is dead. His new floor for a conservative investor is 10% in Bitcoin and digital assets. For aggressive ones, up to 40%. Now five years ago, his number was just 1%.

Bitcoin, of course, is still about a third below its record high. But if September finishes green, it will be the first time since 2013 that Bitcoin gained in September after gaining in August.

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All right, Strategy wants to pay its investors a dividend every single day. And the board made it official last Thursday with a proposal covering its preferred stocks, stretch, strife, strike and stride. The dividends would accrue every calendar day, weekends and holidays included, and get paid out the next business day. The total payout doesn't change only how often you get it. Shareholders vote October 28th, and if it passes, stretch goes daily first with its initial payment on November 2nd, while the other three switch over in January. Now, the reason is obvious once you look at the bond market we just talked about. Stretch is built to trade at $100 and pay 12%.

And the government is now paying over 5% risk free, which is real competition for the first time in years. But daily dividends make the yield feel more like a paycheck. They'll likely help get the price of Stretch back to par and give people one less reason to sell, which matters because of course, Stretch already slid under $75 once this year before a $2 billion buyback helped steady it. Now, Strategy didn't invent the daily dividend. Strives Sata already pays every business day at 13%. But Strategy again is one upping it by counting weekends and holidays too. So the two biggest Bitcoin treasury companies are now competing on how often they pay you, as both keep buying the asset underneath it. Strategy also said Monday it added another 1,665 Bitcoin, pushing its holdings past 847,000.