Strategy resumed its Bitcoin purchases in the final week of August, paying USD 369.7 million for 4,603 BTC. The acquisition ends a selling phase of roughly two months and lifts the company's holdings to 845,050 BTC.

Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, began as a provider of business intelligence software. Today, the group also operates the largest Bitcoin treasury of any publicly listed company. Rather than holding conventional cash reserves, the firm uses the cryptocurrency as its primary balance sheet reserve — an approach that has since been imitated by a wave of other listed companies, though none approaches Strategy's scale. Since 2020, under Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, the company has accumulated Bitcoin almost without interruption, funding the purchases through ongoing share programmes. Between May and August 2026, however, Strategy sold Bitcoin for the first time in its corporate history. The cost basis of the position now totals USD 63.73 billion, equivalent to USD 75,412 per Bitcoin. A single company therefore controls more than 4% of the maximum Bitcoin supply of 21 million units.

Share sales fund the Bitcoin purchases

The details of the purchase week are documented in an 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the standard instrument for reporting material events outside the quarterly reporting cycle. Because Strategy discloses its Bitcoin purchases through these weekly filings, the reports have become a closely watched indicator of corporate demand for Bitcoin. The filing shows an average purchase price of USD 80,318 per Bitcoin. Holdings rose from 840,447 to 845,050 BTC. The group had reported no purchases since June, and the transaction comes amid a phase of recovering prices. Notably, Strategy paid more than its historical cost basis of USD 75,412, which rises slightly as a result of the purchase.

The entire purchase was funded through the company's at-the-market (ATM) programme, under which the group places its own shares directly in the market rather than conducting a classic capital increase. This removes the need for a fixed issue date and a bank syndicate, giving the issuer fast access to fresh equity. During the reporting week, Strategy sold 4,531,421 MSTR shares and generated net proceeds of USD 602.8 million. No other funding sources played a part in the purchase.

Of that sum, USD 369.7 million — roughly 61% of the proceeds — went into the Bitcoin purchase. A further USD 151.8 million flowed into buybacks of the STRC preferred share, and USD 50.7 million was spent on STRC dividends. The remaining USD 30 million went into the freely available USD cash position. The Bitcoin purchase is therefore only one element of a broader capital allocation, and a growing share of the fresh equity is directed towards servicing preferred shareholders.

STRC trading below par value forced Strategy into Bitcoin sales

STRC is a Strategy preferred share with a par value of USD 100. Such securities pay a fixed distribution and rank above common stock. The instrument initially served the company as a separate funding route for Bitcoin purchases. In June 2026, however, its price fell below par value. When a security of this kind trades below par, every further issuance becomes more expensive for the issuer, eliminating a key source of capital. Payouts to STRC holders continued regardless.

The board responded at the end of June 2026 with the Digital Credit Capital Framework, a rulebook that permits selective Bitcoin sales to cover dividends and buybacks of preferred shares. For the first time in company history, the firm's own Bitcoin holdings served as a source of capital. Between May and August 2026, the group parted with 6,948 BTC, generating proceeds of around USD 432.5 million at an average price of USD 62,250 per Bitcoin.

The current repurchase turned out to be roughly 29% more expensive than the preceding sales. On a net basis, Strategy still holds 2,345 BTC fewer than before the selling phase began — a gap of less than 0.3% of total holdings. Around USD 63 million of the price difference nevertheless remained on the balance sheet as cash. The brief change of course therefore cost the company holdings rather than liquidity, and its trigger was the slide in the preferred share, not a reassessment of the Bitcoin position.

Net leverage remains at zero despite the Bitcoin sales

The earmarked USD reserve for preferred dividends and interest payments stood at USD 5.10 billion at the end of August. In addition, the group held a freely available cash position of USD 1.61 billion, bringing the two positions together to USD 6.71 billion. The company still reports net leverage of 0.0%. The metric sets debt against available liquid funds, meaning the balance sheet shows no net debt that could force sales in a falling market.

A considerable share of these funds is simultaneously directed at stabilising the preferred shares. During the reporting period, Strategy bought back 1,557,177 STRC shares for USD 151.8 million. Of the authorisation totalling over USD 1 billion, USD 364.8 million remains, with around USD 635 million already drawn. The buyback volume in the reporting week reached an order of magnitude comparable to the Bitcoin purchase.

A second, separate authorisation of over USD 1 billion covers buybacks of MSTR common stock. The board has so far not touched that mandate. Such a buyback would reduce the number of outstanding MSTR shares rather than increasing it through the ATM programme; the company is keeping the instrument in reserve.

Strategy holds more than four percent of all available Bitcoin

With 845,050 BTC, Strategy now controls more than 4% of all Bitcoin that will ever be available. The distance to its rivals is considerable. Twenty One, a treasury vehicle backed by Tether, holds 43,514 BTC. Metaplanet follows with around 43,000 BTC, while the miner MARA holds 35,577 BTC. At Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, the venture associated with Adam Back and Cantor Fitzgerald, the figure stands at 30,021 BTC. Together, these four holders do not reach even a fifth of Strategy's position. Against the second-largest holder, Strategy's lead amounts to roughly nineteen times.

The timing of the return to buying follows chiefly from the price trend. Bitcoin recovered in the preceding weeks from a low of around USD 63,000 to briefly more than USD 81,000. Over the month, the largest cryptocurrency stands around 24% higher, though on a weekly view the price barely moved. Bitcoin last traded around USD 78,000, equivalent to a market capitalisation of about USD 1.57 trillion.

Compared with the cost basis of USD 75,412, the position shows an unrealised book gain above USD 2 billion — a figure the company does not report itself. In the long run, whether Strategy can fund itself in future without Bitcoin sales depends on whether the preferred share climbs back above par value. For observers, the signals to watch are accordingly concrete: the weekly 8-K filings, the STRC price relative to its USD 100 par value, and the pace at which the remaining STRC and MSTR buyback authorisations are drawn down.