Strategy Sells Bitcoin at 15% Loss To Fund STRC Buybacks

The coins were sold between 27 Jul and 2 Aug, according to an 8-K filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 3 Aug. Strategy sold the Bitcoin at an average price of $63,957, about 15.2% below its average purchase price of $75,419 per coin.

Shortly after the sale was disclosed, founder and Chairman Michael Saylor took to X to announce that proceeds were used to help cover preferred-stock dividends and fund an $81.2mn repurchase of 912,143 STRC shares.

Strategy also added $250mn to its USD reserve using proceeds from the sale of more than 3mn MSTR Class A shares during the same period. The reserve, now at $4bn, provides the company with cash to meet dividend payments and other obligations tied to its preferred securities without having to sell additional Bitcoin.

Strategy is using its financial-engineering playbook to shore up a capital structure strained by the cost of its preferred securities: selling Bitcoin to fund dividends and retire STRC shares trading below par, while issuing common stock to rebuild the cash reserve backing future payments. The moves ease near-term pressure on the preferred-stock structure, but transfer part of the cost to Strategy's Bitcoin holdings and MSTR shareholders through asset sales and dilution.

Strategy first sold a small amount of Bitcoin in May as part of a wider capital-structure overhaul. The company then sold 1,363 BTC for $80.8mn on 29–30 Jun at an average price of $59,256 per coin and another 2,225 BTC for $135.2mn between 1 Jul and 5 Jul at an average price of $60,773. Strategy said the proceeds from both sales were used to fund preferred-stock distributions and replenish the portion of its USD reserve used for those payments.

Repurchasing STRC

According to SEC filings, Strategy authorized $1bn of buybacks on 29 Jun but left the programme untouched for three weeks. It then spent $25mn on STRC in the week to 26 Jul, before accelerating purchases to $81.2mn in the latest period, leaving $893.8mn of the authorization available.

The economics of the buybacks are clear. In last week's buyback, it paid an average of about $89 per share for securities with a $100 liquidation preference, allowing the company to retire the stock at an 11% discount and cut its annual dividend bill by about $11mn.

The saving is small relative to Strategy's wider financing burden. The Financial Times estimated in June that the company's annual preferred-dividend and interest expense at about $1.76bn, meaning the latest repurchase reduced that burden by roughly 0.6%.

The buybacks may therefore support STRC's market price as reducing expenses. The shares have remained below $90 after falling as low as $75. Management has said it does not intend to recommend lowering STRC's 12% dividend rate until the stock trades at or near $100 on a sustained basis, leaving repurchases as one of the few tools available to narrow the discount without increasing the payout.

Market and online reaction

The market reaction suggests investors viewed the transactions as reinforcing, rather than straining, Strategy's capital structure. STRC climbed 2.8% to around $92 at 18:13UTC on 3 Aug, narrowing its discount to its $100 liquidation preference, while MSTR gained 2.2%. The gains indicate investors saw the combination of buybacks, cash reserve growth and limited Bitcoin sales as improving the sustainability of Strategy's preferred-stock financing strategy.

On crypto X, however, sentiment was more negative. A 2 Aug post from Saylor stating "Bitcoin Drive Engaged" was widely interpreted as a signal that Strategy was preparing to resume Bitcoin purchases, making the subsequent disclosure of further sales a disappointment to some investors.

Saylor said in June that despite the sales, he expects Strategy to remain a net buyer of Bitcoin. To date, the company purchased just under 175,000 BTC in 2026, against total sales of 5,258 coins. It holds 66% of all BTC on public company balance sheets according to BitcoinTreasuries.net.

Elsewhere, corporate Bitcoin buying has continued at a much slower pace. Paris-listed Capital B said on 3 Aug that it had bought only one BTC over a nearly two-months period, taking the group holdings to 3,140 BTC as of 3 Aug. Metaplanet, the third-largest listed corporate holder, last disclosed a purchase on 2 Jul, when it added 2,823 BTC to bring its total to 43,000. 

Bitcoin traded at $63,897 at 18:18UTC, up 0.6% on the day after recovering from an intraday low near $62,300. The price action suggests investors had largely priced in Strategy's latest sale, with the market finding support despite another week of net corporate selling.