In brief
- Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy has sold 32 BTC for roughly $2.5 million at an average sale price of $77,135 per Bitcoin.
- The move marks a reversal of the firm's "never sell" stance, and comes after its CEO had said Strategy "will sell Bitcoin when it's advantageous to the company."
- Following the news, Bitcoin dropped to around $72,000.
Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy sold 32 BTC from its holdings last week for roughly $2.5 million, per an SEC filing. The average sale price was $77,135 per Bitcoin, and brings Strategy's holdings down to 843,706 BTC, worth approximately $61 billion at current prices.
Funds from the sale of BTC will be used to fund distributions on preferred stock, the firm said in the filing.
As the opening bell rang on Monday, Strategy’s stock price plunged. The Bitcoin-buying firm’s shares fell more than 8.5% to around $145, drawing close to a 45-day low, according to Yahoo Finance. Gains pared to 4.7% year-to-date.
On Myriad, a prediction market platform owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, traders had increasingly doubted that Strategy would pare its holdings this year (88%)—until Saylor’s comments during the company’s Q1 earnings call on May 5. At that point, expectations flipped, with traders penciling in a 90% chance of a sale in 2026 as of Sunday.
The sale sees the Bitcoin treasury firm abandoning its long-held "never sell" stance. Last month, Strategy softened its stance on selling Bitcoin, with the firm's Chair Michael Saylor stating that, "We'll probably sell some Bitcoin to fund a dividend just to inoculate the market—just to send the message that we did it,” during the firm's Q1 earnings call.
Strategy's President and CEO Phong Le added that the firm "will sell Bitcoin when it's advantageous to the company," noting that it could offload some of its BTC holdings either to buy U.S. dollars or buy debt "if it's accretive to Bitcoin per share."
At the time, market observers suggested that Strategy reversing its position on selling Bitcoin could trigger "short-term panic," with Altura COO Mathew Pinnock telling Decrypt that, "The immediate impact would be the change in perception and weakening sentiments around the conviction of the asset."
Strategy's move had an immediate impact, with Bitcoin's price dropping to just over $72,000 on the news, down 2.4% on the day according to CoinGecko data.
Strategy's Bitcoin sale comes a week after the firm used 61% of its dedicated cash buffer, worth some $1.38 billion, to repurchase $1.5 billion in convertible notes.
As the firm sold Bitcoin last week, it issued $128 million worth of common stock. During the period, Strategy didn’t issue any of its flagship, preferred stock. The product, known as Stretch (STRC), currently offers an 11.5% annual dividend paid monthly.
Although proceeds raised from selling Bitcoin are earmarked for STRC distributions, the funds meanwhile bolster the company’s cash reserves. The pile was created in December to quiet concerns about the sustainability of the firm’s recurring payments for STRC holders.
As the dividend-paying product has ballooned to a $10.38 billion market cap, so too have costs associated with maintaining faith in STRC. Holding STRC’s stated dividend at 11.5% for a fourth straight month, Strategy has been imploring shareholders to vote for bi-monthly payouts.
Over the weekend Saylor shared a post from an individual on X whose father recently discovered STRC. The post amounted to an endorsement of the product, which purportedly can “help my dad achieve his financial goals.”
The next day, Saylor foreshadowed Strategy's next move in vague terms. Alongside a chart of the firm’s recent purchases, he said in a post on X, “Working Better.”
This isn't actually the first time that Strategy has sold Bitcoin. In December 2022, the firm sold 704 BTC for around $11.8 million, before repurchasing 810 BTC two days later, as part of a tax loss harvesting event.
Editor's note: This story was updated after publication to add further detail.