The sale by the strategy occurred last week and was first disclosed in an SEC filing on Monday. The strategy directed approximately $2.5 million of the proceeds toward distributions on its STRC perpetual preferred stock, a vehicle that offers variable yield to investors whose capital the company uses to accumulate more Bitcoin. On-chain activity had already hinted at a potential sale, according to Arkham Intelligence, with more than 400 Bitcoin transferred to Coinbase Prime on Friday.
While many have assumed this is the first time the strategy has sold Bitcoin, it actually sold somewhat earlier in its journey as a digital asset treasury company (DAT) in December 2022. The sale was for tax loss harvesting, which is a practice that involves realizing losses on assets to offset taxable gains elsewhere in the portfolio. The strategy bought more Bitcoin than it sold just days after the 2022 sale, according to blockchain analyst Ai Yi, The Block reports.
Saylor and his team had telegraphed a potential Bitcoin selloff before last week’s move. In the Q1 2026 earnings call, Saylor said, “Yeah, we’ll probably sell some Bitcoin.” He described the move as a way to “fund the dividend just to boost the market” and show that the company can handle liabilities without relying solely on stock sales. He stressed that the strategy will remain a net aggregator of Bitcoin. In related comments, Saylor said the company could buy 10 to 20 Bitcoins for every Bitcoin sold. He compared this operation to real estate development, where a company buys land cheaply, sells a portion at a higher price to cover expenses, and then buys even more land. Executives had indicated that modest sales to service preferred shares would remain consistent with long-term growth, as long as overall holdings did not increase.
Reactions to the sale have varied across Bitcoin and the larger crypto industry. Following the sale, OnRamp CEO and founder Michael Tanguma posted on Twitter, “This is not the end of the strategy, and this is not the end of Saylor (it’s probably the end of DAT). ” But the premise quietly changed. For years the deal was that Bitcoin would never be touched.”
Notably, the sale amount represents less than 0.004% of the strategy’s total holdings, and the company alone has purchased more Bitcoins than the total amount mined on the Bitcoin network so far this year.
Last week $MSTR sold 32 Bitcoins for approximately $2.5 million at an average price of $77,135. Since the biggest buyers of Bitcoin have now become sellers, where will the new demand come from to maintain the pyramid? Bitcoin is already below $72K, which is about 7% below the price @Saylor sold at.
– Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) June 1, 2026
In general, crypto market observers’ opinions on the strategy vary from a financial stroke of genius to an outright Ponzi scheme. The company now raises capital primarily through preferred stock instruments such as STRC, which carry annual costs in the range of 11% in effective yield structures. It deploys those funds to buy Bitcoin and aims for the asset to appreciate enough to service payments while expanding the treasury. Critics have pointed out that this may appear to be Ponzi-like as the fresh capital helps maintain obligations. To function effectively, the model depends on Bitcoin growing as a reliable reserve asset around the world.
Strategy and other Bitcoin treasury companies have been sitting on massive unrealized losses in recent months as Bitcoin has struggled since reaching a new all-time high of nearly $125,000 in October. As the biggest player in the game, Strategy& has posted losses of nearly $30 billion over the last two quarters. Its average acquisition cost per Bitcoin sits at around $75,700, making holdings underwater at current price levels.
Elsewhere, Sequance has abandoned its Bitcoin treasury strategy entirely after booking millions of dollars in losses on its holdings in less than a year. Additionally, Bitcoin miner Bitdeer sold its entire Bitcoin holdings in February amid changes to its AI infrastructure and has yet to replace them. In fact, it continues to report sales of the entire Bitcoin mined on a weekly basis.
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