The strategy sold 32 bitcoins for roughly $2.5 million last week to fund a preferred stock dividend, its first sale since 2022, breaking the “never sell” principle and sending MSTR shares down more than 6%.
summary:
- The strategy sold 32 BTC for approximately $2.5 million last week, the first BTC sale since late 2022.
- The sale was made to fund the dividend on STRC, the company’s dividend-bearing preferred stock
- MSTR shares fell more than 6.5% on Monday before partially recovering. Bitcoin fell about 3% to about $71,467
- Saylor framed the move as a balance sheet optimization aimed at improving Bitcoin’s per-share scale and managing STRC’s tax liabilities.
- The strategy holds approximately 843,706 bitcoins worth over $60 billion, with an average underlying cost of $75,701 per coin.
- The company’s profit reserve fell to approximately $900 million from the original amount of $1.44 billion
Strategy, the Nasdaq-listed company that has built its identity on a relentless bitcoin accumulation strategy, sold 32 bitcoins last week for nearly $2.5 million, its first disposal of the cryptocurrency since the depths of the crypto winter of 2022. The sale, disclosed in a regulatory filing, was made to fund distributions on the company’s preferred stock, sending MSTR shares down more than 6.5% on Monday before a partial recovery, while Bitcoin itself rose nearly 3% to approximately $71,467.
This deal is insignificant compared to Strategy’s holdings of approximately 843,706 bitcoins, worth more than $60 billion at current prices. But its importance lies almost entirely outside the scope of the account. For years, CEO Michael Saylor’s refusal to sell Bitcoin has been treated as an orthodoxy, a corporate principle woven into the company’s market identity and its appeal to Bitcoin hardliners. This principle has now been formally broken in practice.
Saylor sought to reframe the sale as a rational Treasury management decision rather than a retreat. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal in May, he said that selling a small amount of Bitcoin to fund liabilities that eventually allow for further accumulation is consistent with the company’s long-term philosophy. Strategy CEO Phong Le added that dispositions near the company’s average cost of $75,701 per coin could reduce tax exposure on STRC, benefiting income-focused security holders.
Digital asset research firm Delphi Digital was less accommodating in its framing. The market should now treat the strategy as a leveraged treasury whose bitcoin reserves may be a source of liquidity, not just an accumulation vehicle, the company said. The preferred stock group, which includes tools such as Strike, Stretch, Strife and Stride, carries returns that have attracted strong retail interest but have also raised questions about long-term sustainability. Earnings reserves fell from $1.44 billion to about $900 million.
This episode reaches a complex moment for Bitcoin sentiment more broadly. The cryptocurrency has fallen about 18% so far this year, drifting in a narrow range while technology stocks hit new records. The retail enthusiasm that once surrounded Bitcoin and the strategy has largely shifted towards artificial intelligence. Whether Monday’s disclosure represents an isolated adjustment or a structural shift in how the strategy manages its balance sheet is now the central question for investors who own any part of the company’s capital structure.
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Bitcoin fell 3% to about $71,467 on Monday after the disclosure, with MSTR shares falling as much as 6.5% before regaining some of their gains by early afternoon. The move has shaken sentiment around the corporate Bitcoin treasury model more broadly, as the strategy’s “never sell” position has long been treated as a floor of sorts for institutional confidence in Bitcoin as a balance sheet asset. Analysts at Delphi Digital warned that investors may now reprice the strategy as a leveraged treasury subject to competing financial obligations, rather than as a pure accumulation vehicle. The erosion of Strategy’s cash reserve for dividend obligations, which has fallen to about $900 million from $1.44 billion, adds an additional burden to monitor.
