Strategy disclosed that it sold 32 bitcoin between May 26 and May 31 at an average price of $77,135, raising $2.5 million to fund dividend payments on its perpetual preferred stock, STRC, also known as Stretch. The filing marks the company’s first standalone bitcoin sale in four years.
The sale barely changed Strategy’s bitcoin position
In its 8-K filing released Monday, the company said it still held more than 843,700 BTC on its balance sheet at month-end, acquired at an average cost of $75,699. Based on the disclosed figures, the transaction represented only 0.0038% of total holdings. Strategy remains the largest publicly traded corporate holder of bitcoin.
The move drew attention across the crypto market, but it did not come out of nowhere. Earlier this year, during the company’s first-quarter earnings call, Executive Chairman Michael Saylor said Strategy would probably sell some bitcoin to pay a dividend, adding that the company wanted to show the market that it had done so.
Saylor had already identified bitcoin sales as one funding option
The comment stood out because Saylor had long argued publicly for buying and holding bitcoin over the long term. After that earnings call, he told CoinDesk that management was weighing several capital sources to meet dividend obligations and support the balance sheet. Selling bitcoin was one of the options under consideration.
He also said the company evaluates those decisions through the lens of bitcoin per share and favors actions that add value for shareholders. The small size of the latest sale fits that approach. On the numbers disclosed so far, Strategy’s balance sheet remains overwhelmingly centered on bitcoin.
Shares fell and bitcoin dropped below $71,500
Strategy shares fell about 6% on Monday and were recently trading near $150. Bitcoin also moved lower, slipping below $71,500. The report said the decline came after the sale announcement and after Iran halted talks with the U.S. in protest over Israel’s incursions into Lebanon.
Shortly after the move, more than $90 million in bitcoin-tracked futures positions were liquidated. The transaction also carries historical weight for Strategy: it is the first standalone divestment disclosed by Saylor to date. In December 2022, the company sold 704 BTC and bought 2,395 BTC, which still left it with a net increase in holdings, and that trade was viewed mainly as a tax-loss harvesting exercise.