Strategy sold 1,690 Bitcoin for about USD 108.6 million, marking a second consecutive week of sales below its average cost basis. The proceeds were used to buy back preferred shares, while share issuance lifted the company's USD reserve to USD 4.65 billion.

Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, is a listed US software company with Bitcoin as its largest balance sheet position. The company funds its purchases through share and bond issuance, making it the prototype of a Bitcoin treasury firm whose approach has been imitated by nearly 200 listed companies worldwide. Under Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, Strategy bought Bitcoin continuously from 2020 onward and long maintained a never-sell doctrine. However, at the end of June 2026, the group announced the Digital Credit Capital Framework, which allows targeted sales to support the company's own capital structure. The latest sale is the second in two consecutive weeks and reduces holdings to 840,447 BTC, worth roughly USD 54.7 billion. Strategy accumulated that position at an average cost of USD 75,385 per Bitcoin.

Strategy sells Bitcoin to fund the STRC buyback

Strategy disclosed the transaction in an 8-K filing — a mandatory current-event report — with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The sale took place between 3 and 9 August, and the filing was submitted the following day. The average sale price was USD 64,262 per Bitcoin. In the prior week, the company had already sold 1,638 BTC for around USD 105 million in the period through 2 August. Both transactions fall under the same framework.

All net proceeds from the Bitcoin sale were used to buy back 1,152,020 STRC preferred shares. STRC is a Strategy preferred security that pays a 12 percent ongoing dividend. Such instruments allow the company to raise capital without diluting common shareholders, but they also create fixed payout obligations regardless of Bitcoin's price. Each repurchased share therefore reduces future dividend costs.

Bitcoin was not the company's largest source of cash during the week. At the same time, Strategy sold 6,585,682 MSTR shares for USD 653.1 million through an at-the-market program. Under that structure, a company issues shares continuously on the open market rather than through a single large offering. The stock sale generated roughly six times the proceeds of the Bitcoin sale. From those funds, Strategy increased its USD reserve by USD 650 million to USD 4.65 billion. Under the company's rules, that reserve is intended to cover preferred dividends and interest payments only, and it does not serve as a capital buffer for new Bitcoin purchases. About USD 22 billion in issuance capacity also remains unused.

Sale below cost breaks with the never-sell doctrine

The realized price of USD 64,262 was about 14.8 percent below Strategy's average cost basis of USD 75,385. That implies a notional loss of roughly USD 11,123 per Bitcoin sold. In other words, Strategy sold coins below its own entry price to meet obligations tied to its capital structure. On the full position, the gap is wider. The remaining 840,447 BTC cost roughly USD 63.4 billion including fees and are currently worth about USD 54.7 billion, leaving an unrealized paper loss of around USD 8.7 billion.

The June Digital Credit Capital Framework made this possible. It raised the STRC dividend to 12 percent, created two buyback programs of USD 1 billion each, and authorized Bitcoin sales of up to USD 1.25 billion for the first time. In early August, Strategy expanded the BTC Monetization Program to as much as USD 5 billion. That amount includes roughly USD 1.25 billion for the USD reserve, about USD 1.76 billion in annual dividend and interest obligations, and up to USD 2 billion for common and preferred share buybacks. The program has no expiry date and does not commit the company to a fixed sales volume, making Bitcoin monetization a permanent part of the capital structure toolkit.

Saylor has drawn a distinction between his personal view and the company's balance sheet policy. After the sale of 1,638 BTC the week before, he responded on X:

"When I say 'Never sell your Bitcoin', I speak as one saver to another. I have never sold mine. Not one satoshi. Strategy is a publicly traded company, not my wallet." - Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman and co-founder of Strategy

For the company's balance sheet, the doctrine no longer applies. Over two weeks, Strategy sold 3,328 BTC and took in about USD 214 million. In both cases, the purpose was the same: internal funding for dividends and buybacks.

STRC price moves back toward par

The buybacks are visible in the price of STRC. At the end of June 2026, the preferred security traded below USD 75. It is now above USD 95, leaving less than USD 5 between the market price and the par value of USD 100, which also serves as the benchmark for calculating the payout. Strategy continues to aim for a price near par.

The market response to the disclosure was initially muted. MSTR shares were up about 0.2 percent before the open, while Bitcoin was unchanged. Over the previous week, MSTR had gained 3.3 percent and closed Friday at USD 100.01. Bitcoin rose 2.4 percent over the same period.

Over a longer horizon, the gap remains wide. MSTR still trades about 78 percent below its record high. Strategy reports an enterprise mNAV of 1.07, a company-defined multiple that compares enterprise value with the value of the Bitcoin it holds. A reading above 1 indicates a premium to those holdings. At 1.07, the market is paying only a small premium — a level that limits how much additional Bitcoin each new share issuance can deliver, since the capital raised buys coins at roughly the same valuation the market assigns them.

Strategy remains the largest Bitcoin holder by far

The sales do not change Strategy's position as the largest corporate Bitcoin holder. Its 840,447 BTC represent roughly 4 percent of the total Bitcoin supply, which is capped at 21 million coins. The nearest follower is Tether-backed Twenty One Capital with 43,514 BTC, or just over one-tenth of Strategy's position. Metaplanet holds 43,000 BTC, MARA holds 35,377 BTC, and Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, backed by Adam Back and Cantor Fitzgerald, holds 30,021 BTC. Together, those four firms hold less than one-fifth of Strategy's stack.

According to Bitcoin Treasuries data, 196 listed companies have adopted a Bitcoin acquisition model. Their valuations have come under pressure, with market-cap-to-net-asset-value multiples at digital asset treasury firms falling sharply from the highs seen in summer 2025. The model depends on equity-market capital raises, while dividend and interest obligations continue regardless of share price.

As that original funding mechanism weakens, new share issuance becomes less effective when a stock trades only slightly above the value of the Bitcoin it represents. In that situation, each new issue adds only a small amount of Bitcoin per share, reducing the appeal of further capital raises. Selling existing holdings therefore becomes a more prominent internal funding tool — a shift that other Bitcoin treasury firms watching Strategy's blueprint may face as well if their own premiums compress. Strategy still keeps both options open, with USD 22 billion of equity-issuance capacity remaining and a USD 5 billion sales program in place. The capital structure is increasingly drawing on the stack it was originally built to expand.