Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR), formerly MicroStrategy, has sold 6,948 Bitcoin year-to-date in 2026, generating approximately $430 million in proceeds — all at prices below the company's $75,385 average acquisition cost. The most recent disposal, 1,690 BTC between August 3 and August 9, fetched $10...
"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 public company, not my wallet." — Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman, Strategy Inc., August 3, 2026
Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR), formerly MicroStrategy, has sold 6,948 Bitcoin year-to-date in 2026, generating approximately $430 million in proceeds — all at prices below the company's $75,385 average acquisition cost. The most recent disposal, 1,690 BTC between August 3 and August 9, fetched $108.6 million at an average of $64,262 per coin. Every dollar went to repurchase STRC preferred shares trading below their $100 par value.
The sales represent less than 1% of Strategy's 840,447 BTC reserve, the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury globally at roughly 4% of Bitcoin's eventual 21 million supply. But they mark a structural departure from the accumulation-only posture that defined the company from 2020 through early 2026. The June 29 adoption of the Digital Credit Capital Framework — authorizing up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin sales — formalized what the market had already begun to price in: Strategy's treasury is now a managed balance sheet, not a conviction trade.
Simultaneously, the company raised $653.1 million through at-the-market sales of 6,585,682 MSTR common shares during the same August 3-9 period, pushing its USD reserve to $4.65 billion. The dual-track capital raise — selling both Bitcoin and equity in the same week — signals that preferred-stock repair has become the company's near-term operational priority.
Strategy's 2026 Bitcoin disposals followed a clear escalation pattern:
| Period | BTC Sold | Avg Price | Proceeds | |--------|----------|-----------|----------| | May 26-31 | 32 | ~$78,125 | ~$2.5M | | Late June - Early July | 3,588 | ~$60,200 | ~$216M | | July 27 - August 2 | 1,638 | $63,957 | $104.7M | | August 3-9 | 1,690 | $64,262 | $108.6M | | YTD Total | 6,948 | — | ~$431.8M |
The initial 32 BTC sale in May drew outsized attention relative to its size — roughly $2.5 million against a $56 billion treasury. Analysts at the time split between calling it economically immaterial and viewing it as a policy signal. The subsequent sales validated the latter interpretation.
As of August 10, 2026, Strategy holds 840,447 BTC acquired at an aggregate cost of $63.36 billion, representing an average purchase price of $75,385 per Bitcoin. At Bitcoin's August 11 trading price near $64,190, the treasury's unrealized loss sits at approximately $9.4 billion.
The proximate cause of every Bitcoin sale in 2026 has been STRC, Strategy's Variable Rate Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock.
STRC was issued to help finance Bitcoin accumulation and carries a dividend that resets monthly. The current annualized rate stands at 12%. The stock is designed to trade near its $100 par value, but it hit a record low of $71 per share in late June 2026 — a 29% discount to par that threatened to trigger a cascading credibility problem across Strategy's capital structure.
By August 5, STRC had recovered to $94, a 32% rebound from the June low. That recovery was engineered through a combination of Bitcoin sale proceeds directed into buybacks and the maintenance of the 12% dividend rate. Strategy repurchased 1,152,020 STRC shares for $108.6 million during the August 3-9 period alone, with $785.2 million remaining under the Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program authorization.
The arithmetic is straightforward: Strategy pays 12% annually on STRC. Bitcoin, yielding nothing, must be sold to generate the cash required to service that obligation when equity issuance conditions deteriorate. The company has effectively created a negative-carry position — holding a zero-yield asset financed partly by a 12%-coupon liability.
On June 29, 2026, Strategy's board adopted the Digital Credit Capital Framework, the first formal authorization in the company's history to sell Bitcoin in a structured capacity. Key provisions include:
The framework represents a formal acknowledgment that Strategy's capital structure requires active management. The $1.25 billion ceiling implies the board is prepared to sell roughly 19,500 BTC at current prices — 2.3% of the total treasury — before exhausting the authorization.
Of that $1.25 billion, approximately $432 million has been deployed through the August 9 sales, leaving roughly $818 million of remaining capacity. At the current rate of disposals — approximately $100 million per week in recent weeks — the remaining authorization covers roughly eight more weeks of similar activity.
Every Bitcoin sale in 2026 has occurred below Strategy's $75,385 average acquisition cost. The July 27-August 2 sale at $63,957 represented a 15.2% discount to cost basis. The August 3-9 sale at $64,262 was executed at a 14.7% discount.
On the 6,948 BTC sold year-to-date, Strategy's approximate realized loss totals:
These are accounting losses based on average cost. The actual loss calculation depends on which specific lots were sold — information Strategy has not disclosed at the lot level. Regardless of methodology, the company is liquidating Bitcoin below its blended entry price.
For a company that built its identity on Bitcoin as a superior store of value, selling at a loss to service preferred-stock obligations introduces a structural tension that no amount of messaging can fully resolve.
Bitcoin sales represent only one funding channel. The larger capital source during the August 3-9 period was at-the-market equity issuance: 6,585,682 shares of MSTR Class A common stock sold for $653.1 million in net proceeds.
Of that amount, $650 million went directly into Strategy's USD reserve, pushing it to $4.65 billion. The remaining $3.1 million was added to the company's general cash balance.
MSTR common shares traded between $93.40 and $97.98 on August 11, down from highs above $100 earlier in the month. The stock has struggled to hold the $105 level, rejecting it three times in recent sessions, according to Benzinga.
Strategy also retains $17.5 billion of remaining STRC issuance capacity and maintains multiple at-the-market programs for common equity. The company's capital-raising toolkit remains large, but each issuance dilutes existing shareholders and increases future dividend obligations on the preferred side.
The initial 32 BTC sale in May triggered a disproportionate market reaction. According to VaasBlock research, Bitcoin's total market capitalization fell approximately $160 billion in the days surrounding the disclosure — a ratio of roughly $5 billion in market cap lost per single Bitcoin sold.
Subsequent sales have drawn less dramatic price action but sustained the narrative shift. According to CoinDesk, analysts agreed the first sale was "immaterial" in dollar terms but differed on what it signaled. The subsequent adoption of the Digital Credit Capital Framework and the escalation to weekly four-figure BTC sales confirmed the structural interpretation.
Forbes noted that Saylor sold $105 million of Bitcoin below cost for the third time in 2026, headlining the piece "Not One Satoshi." The distinction Saylor draws between his personal holdings and Strategy's corporate treasury has become a recurring point of scrutiny. On August 3, 2026, Saylor wrote on X: "Strategy is a public company, not my wallet."
In a May 2026 interview on the Coin Stories podcast, Saylor acknowledged it was "not unlikely" the company would sell some Bitcoin before year-end — the first public softening of his long-standing accumulation posture.
Strategy's transformation from relentless Bitcoin buyer to active treasury manager represents the most significant change in corporate Bitcoin strategy since the company first purchased BTC in August 2020. The 6,948 BTC sold in 2026 are economically small relative to the 840,447 still held. But the existence of the Digital Credit Capital Framework, the below-cost sales, and the weekly cadence of disposals indicate that Bitcoin accumulation is no longer the sole operating principle.
The company faces a structural tension: it holds a zero-yield asset while servicing a 12% annual coupon on STRC preferred stock. As long as Bitcoin remains below Strategy's cost basis and equity markets offer limited appetite for new issuance at favorable prices, the company will continue to sell BTC to meet its obligations.
Whether STRC stabilizes near par and the company resumes net accumulation depends on two variables outside its control: Bitcoin's price trajectory and public equity market conditions for MSTR shares. The data as of August 10, 2026 shows a company managing a complex capital structure under pressure — competently, but at a cost.