Strategy just sold Bitcoin—again. The world’s foremost digital asset hoarder announced on Monday that it unloaded 1,690 Bitcoin, or nearly $109 million, using the proceeds to buy back one of its preferred-stock products rather than expanding its treasury. The sale comes seven weeks after Strategy made its last purchase, according to the company’s catalog of crypto transactions. After the announcement, Strategy’s shares fell 1.5% at market open but quickly rebounded to $100. Bitcoin’s price briefly dropped 1% before climbing back to $64,700, according to CoinGecko.
Monday’s sale marks the second time this month that Strategy has sold Bitcoin. On Aug. 3, the company sold roughly $105 million worth of the cryptocurrency. Since announcing in late June that it could sell up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin to build its cash reserves, Strategy has now sold the asset on four separate occasions.
The sales mark a sharp shift for a company whose strategy has long centered on accumulating—not selling—Bitcoin. Michael Saylor, Strategy’s executive chairman, began adding the cryptocurrency to the balance sheet of his cybersecurity firm, then known as MicroStrategy, in 2020. The company’s holdings have since grown to roughly $54 billion, which represents about 4% of the total Bitcoin supply, according to the company’s own data.
Strategy has reversed course in recent months as Bitcoin’s price and the company’s own shares have declined. Since the Oct. 10 crash, which wiped out more than $19 billion in leveraged crypto positions, Bitcoin has fallen nearly 43% and MSTR shares have dropped almost 70%. Because Strategy traditionally funds its Bitcoin purchases by selling common and preferred stock and issuing convertible debt, it has moved to build up its dollar reserves to show investors it can meet its cash obligations even if markets remain volatile. Against that backdrop, CEO Phong Le praised the company’s latest Bitcoin sale.
“Our USD Reserve and Duration are now at all-time highs. In 2.5 months, we added nearly $3.8 billion and grew both more than 5X,” he said in a social media post.
Strategy is not alone in feeling the fallout from the broader crypto downturn. Over the past year, a wave of imitators loaded public-company balance sheets with cryptocurrencies in hopes of sparking stock rallies, but that trade has since soured. Solana-focused Solmate has lost nearly all of its value, saddling investors with steep paper losses, while Cantor Fitzgerald’s BSTR Bitcoin vehicle has struggled to keep its SPAC deal afloat amid waning investor appetite.
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