BTC Current Affairs

Strategy's Bitcoin Sales: The Irony of a Bitcoin Company Selling Bitcoin

2026-08-10

Strategy just sold another 1,638 BTC and issued 3.01 million MSTR shares to raise $290.6 million. The company now holds 842,138 bitcoin, down from their accumulated position. This is the interesting bit: they bought those coins at an average price of $75,419. They're selling them well below that mark.

The reason? Preferred-stock dividends. They've exploded. The company paid out $400.7 million in preferred dividends this year, up from $49.1 million the year before. That's nearly three times their quarterly revenue of $122.4 million. The math doesn't work without selling something.

So Strategy is now running a rotation: Bitcoin sales, common-share issuance, and reserve builds to fund this preferred structure. They've also been buying back STRC shares (912,143 of them for $81.2 million) to defend the peg. STRC is their perpetual preferred stock, designed to trade at around $100. It hasn't stayed there.

The irony sits heavy here. Michael Saylor, the company's founder, became one of Bitcoin's loudest advocates. In October 2025 he said: "You do not sell your Bitcoin." Then in 2026, Strategy disclosed three separate bitcoin disposals. Thirty-two coins between May 26 and May 31. Another 3,588 between June 29 and July 5. Now another large tranche.

Bitcoin itself hasn't helped. The price has dropped more than 43% from its peaks. That pressure cascades directly into Strategy's balance sheet. STRC broke its $100 peg. The company's USD reserve grew to $3.75 billion—technically 2.1 years of dividend coverage. Yet they're still selling bitcoin to fund current obligations.

Strategy remains the largest institutional bitcoin holder globally, with roughly 843,775 coins representing about 25% growth year to date in 2026. That's the silver lining: they've still accumulated despite the sales. But the structure itself is the problem now.

What's happening is a fundamental tension. The company built its narrative around accumulation—pure, uncompromising bitcoin holding. That worked when bitcoin appreciated steadily. Now they've layered on preferred shares with guaranteed dividends, and those obligations force liquidity management whether they like it or not. The preferred structure was meant to fund growth. Instead it's consuming it.

Saylor framed it carefully in recent comments: Strategy has flexibility to use cash, equity issuance, or other instruments to manage the balance sheet. The goal remains increasing Bitcoin Per Share for common shareholders long-term whilst maintaining a "fortress balance sheet" for preferred investors. Sensible words. But the actual moves—selling bitcoin below cost, issuing shares into weakness, buying back STRC to defend the peg—tell a different story about near-term pressure.

Strategy's capital structure, once elegant, is now active. Forced active. They're managing liabilities, not just accumulating assets. That's a shift worth watching, because it changes how this company actually deploys capital versus how it talks about deploying capital.

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