The CEO of Bitcoin treasury company Strategy, Phong Le, pushed back against investor concerns after the Nasdaq-listed firm disclosed it had sold a portion of its Bitcoin holdings, insisting the company will navigate the current downturn just as it did in 2022.

In a CNBC interview on Monday, Le said Strategy would maintain its long-standing approach and expects to outperform Bitcoin during the next bull cycle.

Strategy (MSTR) revealed on Monday that it had sold 1,638 Bitcoins for approximately $104.7 million and repurchased 912,143 shares of its preferred stock, STRC, for $81.2 million. According to the company's Bitcoin holdings page, Strategy now holds 842,138 BTC valued at roughly $53.8 billion, making it the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency. The sale, while modest relative to the company's total reserves, marked a notable reversal for a firm that had been consistently accumulating Bitcoin and drew scrutiny from investors who view Strategy's treasury strategy as a proxy for broader institutional conviction in the asset.

The company's stock has declined nearly 40% year-to-date and has shed approximately 80% of its value since closing at a record of nearly $474 in November 2024.

"I think Bitcoin is going through a bear cycle right now, and some of that is external macroeconomic," Le said.

"We, as a company, went through this in 2022. We actively manage our capital structure, we rotate into Bitcoin, we sell Bitcoin when we need to, and we'll continue to do so — and we'll get through this bear market," he added.

Strategy began purchasing Bitcoin in August 2020 as a means to generate stronger returns for shareholders during the COVID-19 pandemic and to serve as an inflation hedge. The company's model, pioneered under then-CEO Michael Saylor, has since been imitated by a growing number of public and private firms adopting Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, making Strategy's capital decisions a closely watched barometer for corporate crypto adoption. The company's structure allows investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin through its shares without directly purchasing and custodying the digital asset.

After a sustained period of aggressive weekly Bitcoin purchases, Strategy has not acquired any additional coins in six weeks. The pause coincided with the company reporting an $8.22 billion loss for the second quarter of 2026 in its quarterly earnings release last week.

Le downplayed the significance of the company's current paper losses, stating that the stock would rebound next year.

"We're the J.P. Morgan of the crypto economy, so whether we sell 1,000 Bitcoin out of 840,000 to me is irrelevant to the conversation," Le said. "The conversation is what is our role in Bitcoin, and are we adding Bitcoin per share overall to our shareholders, and are we creating value? I think that's an unequivocal yes."