Methodology & Editorial Policy | True North
Verified by True North Research · Methodology
Research Standards
True North’s digital credit research follows a consistent analytical framework regardless of issuer. Every claim is sourced, every data point is attributed, and the methodology is public. If we get something wrong, the correction log below shows exactly what changed and when.
This page is the permanent reference for how we work. It is linked from every research page in the digital credit hub.
Data Sources
All quantitative claims in True North’s digital credit research are sourced from primary data. We do not use analyst estimates, unnamed sources, or unattributed projections.
Instrument data: SEC EDGAR filings are the primary source for all instrument specifications — 424B5 prospectuses for terms (rates, cumulative status, convertibility, stated value), 8-K current reports for material events (rate changes, share issuances, BTC acquisitions), and 10-K/10-Q filings for issuer financials. Exchange data from Nasdaq and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange provides real-time and historical pricing.
Bitcoin holdings: Issuer 8-K filings and earnings releases report BTC holdings. Where available, real-time treasury trackers from issuers (such as Strive’s Treasury Tracker at treasury.strive.com) provide intra-filing updates. True North cross-references these against SEC filings, company disclosures, and public market data.
Market context data: SIFMA for U.S. corporate bond market size. ICI (Investment Company Institute) for money market fund AUM. Preqin for private credit market size. Public market data aggregators for Bitcoin market cap. DeFiLlama for DeFi lending TVL and protocol-level data. Federal Reserve data for interest rate context. All market context figures are attributed with source name and date.
Historical data: CeFi failure figures (Voyager, Celsius, BlockFi, Genesis) are sourced from court filings, SEC enforcement actions, and reporting by CNBC, Fortune, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, and CoinDesk. Google Trends data is CSV-exported directly from trends.google.com with date ranges documented.
Analytical Framework
True North evaluates digital credit instruments across a consistent set of dimensions applied equally to every instrument regardless of issuer:
Yield analysis: Stated yield (rate applied to par value), effective yield (adjusted for market price premium or discount), and yield trajectory (rate change history). We distinguish clearly between stated and effective yields because the difference is material — an instrument trading at $93 with a 13.00% stated yield on $100 par has a meaningfully different effective yield than the stated rate implies.
Coverage metrics: BTC NAV relative to total preferred obligations outstanding. NAV dividend coverage (how many years of dividends the BTC NAV could theoretically fund at current prices). These metrics depend heavily on Bitcoin’s spot price and should be treated as snapshots, not guarantees.
Capital structure position: Where each instrument sits in the issuer’s capital structure relative to debt and other preferred issues. Seniority determines who gets paid first if things go wrong — this analysis is critical for evaluating relative risk across instruments from the same issuer.
Risk factors: Concentrated BTC price exposure, cumulative vs. non-cumulative dividend status, board-discretionary payment structure, track record length, liquidity (trading volume), and regulatory status. Each instrument’s unique risk characteristics are documented on its profile page.
House Style & Terminology
True North uses precise terminology in all digital credit coverage. These definitions are binding on all True North research content:
Bitcoin-backed — Describes an instrument whose economic foundation is a corporate Bitcoin treasury. This means the issuer holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet and the instrument’s value proposition depends on that Bitcoin position. It does NOT mean the Bitcoin is legally pledged as collateral.
Bitcoin-collateralized — Describes a formal, legal collateral pledge of specific Bitcoin holdings. True North uses this term ONLY when the legal structure supports it. Per Strategy.com: “The Company’s preferred securities are not collateralized by the Company’s bitcoin holdings and only have a preferred claim on the residual assets of the company.” Accordingly, True North does not describe Strategy’s preferred instruments as “Bitcoin-collateralized.”
Stated yield — The declared dividend rate applied to the instrument’s par/stated value ($100 or €100). This is what the issuer has committed to pay (subject to board declaration). We never use “guaranteed yield” or “fixed return” because preferred dividends are board-discretionary.
Effective yield — The stated yield adjusted for market price. If an instrument has a 13.00% stated yield on $100 par but trades at $93, the effective yield is higher than the stated rate. We always specify which yield we’re referencing.
Digital credit instrument — An individual exchange-listed preferred security within the digital credit category. We use “instrument” rather than “product” because “product” implies a commercial relationship between the reader and the issuer, which True North does not have.
Bitcoin treasury company — A public company that holds Bitcoin as a primary treasury asset. We use this rather than “Bitcoin company” because the latter is vague and could refer to miners, exchanges, or service providers.
Update Cadence
Digital credit content is reviewed on a rolling basis. Each page in the hub displays three dates in its metadata:
Last updated — When the page content was last materially changed (new sections, revised analysis, corrected figures).
Last data refresh — When time-sensitive data points (market prices, effective yields, BTC holdings, DeFi TVL) were last verified against primary sources. These change more frequently than content.
Last reviewed — When the page was last fact-checked against primary sources even if no changes were needed. This confirms the content is still accurate.
Material changes to instruments (rate changes, new issuances), issuers (8-K filings, material events), or market conditions (significant BTC price moves) trigger immediate updates outside the regular cadence.
Editorial Independence
True North contributors include professionals affiliated with Strive, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASST), a Bitcoin treasury company and issuer of SATA preferred stock. This affiliation is a source of practitioner expertise — and a potential source of bias. We manage both openly.
What this means in practice: Research is produced by the True North Research desk. No issuer — including Strive — reviews, approves, or edits research content before publication. Sponsors and partners have no editorial input on research content. Coverage of all digital credit instruments follows the same analytical methodology and receives the same depth of analysis regardless of issuer.
What we disclose: Every page in the digital credit hub carries a standardized contributor-affiliation disclosure in the footer. Jeff Walton’s byline on opinion/thesis content includes his dual role (CRO at Strive, CEO of True North). The True North Research byline on category and analytical content signals institutional editorial voice rather than individual opinion.
How readers should use this information: With appropriate skepticism, as they would for any research produced by professionals with market positions. Cross-reference our instrument data against SEC filings directly. Compare our analysis against other sources. Use our methodology to evaluate our conclusions. That’s what the methodology page is for.
Correction Log
If we get something wrong, we fix it publicly. Corrections are logged with the original claim, the correction, the date, and the page affected. We publish corrections openly — we don’t quietly rewrite.
| Date | Page | Original Claim | Correction |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | No corrections to date | — |
This section will be maintained as a running log for the life of the digital credit hub.
Version History
| Version | Date | Changes |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | March 2026 | Initial methodology published with Authority Bomb launch |
Questions about our methodology or a correction to report? Contact the True North Research desk.
This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security. Review all offering documents on SEC EDGAR before investing.
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Sources & Data
Primary sources used across True North's digital credit research. SEC filings, exchange data, institutional research, and downloadable datasets.
True North contributors include professionals affiliated with Strive, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASST), a Bitcoin treasury company and issuer of SATA preferred stock. True North maintains editorial independence. All analysis reflects True North's views, not those of any affiliated entity. Coverage of all digital credit instruments follows the same analytical methodology regardless of issuer. This is not financial advice.