Castle has opened its automated financial platform to individual users, allowing them to direct any portion of Strategy’s STRC preferred-stock dividend into Bitcoin. STRC currently pays a 12% annual dividend on a semi-monthly schedule, with customers able to keep the full payout in cash, convert all of it into Bitcoin, or choose any allocation between the two. The instruction runs automatically at each eligible payment until changed. Strategy pays the dividend in cash before Castle converts the selected portion into Bitcoin, so the arrangement does not make STRC a Bitcoin-paying security or alter its underlying terms. Castle previously served businesses and nonprofit organizations, and said demand from business owners prompted the expansion. The company was founded by Stephen Cole and João Almeida and is backed by Boost VC and Winklevoss Capital.