Strategy CEO Phong Le said the company’s recent sale of 32 Bitcoin was not driven by liquidity needs, but by a deliberate effort to show the market that the firm can sell BTC when necessary and to test its internal execution process. The comments came after Strategy bought more than 1,500 BTC roughly a week after the small sale, its first disposal since 2022.
Speaking on CNBC’s Power Lunch, Le pushed back against the idea that the sale marked a shift in Strategy’s long-running accumulation strategy. BTC was trading around $61,000 during the segment, roughly flat on the day but down more than 20% over the past month, after recently falling below $60,000 for the first time since October 2024.
“We’re net purchasers of Bitcoin,” Le said, pointing to the company’s purchase of about 1,500 BTC over the past month. “Why the sale? A few reasons. One, we thought it was good to inoculate the market to understand that we are willing to sell Bitcoin when we need to. We haven’t needed to, but it’s an important thing to do.”
Le added that buying BTC is operationally easier for Strategy than selling it, making the 32 BTC transaction a useful live test of the company’s processes. He also said the company may, over time, be able to capture tax-loss assets on its balance sheet related to sales, given that Strategy has bought BTC at prices ranging from $10,000 to $125,000.
Crucially, Le said the sale was not required to fund dividends. “One reason we didn’t sell our Bitcoin, we did not need to sell our Bitcoin to satisfy our dividends,” he said. “We’re able to do that through other capital-raising activities.”
Strategy Says It Remains A Net Bitcoin Buyer
The sale attracted attention because Strategy has built its public-market identity around aggressive BTC accumulation. Le acknowledged the frustration among some investors and holders who interpreted the transaction as a breach of the company’s “never sell” posture, but argued that Strategy has a broader set of stakeholders than Bitcoin maximalist retail investors.
“We have a set of constituents that we have to be able to answer to,” Le said. “One is our common stock, our MSTR shareholders. Second is our preferred stock, our STRC shareholders. Third are our debt holders, and fourth are our Bitcoin holders. Not necessarily in that order.”
He continued: “And when it makes sense for our common stockholders for us to sell our Bitcoin, we will. We actually did it in 2022, and so we’re going to do it now. Again, if you’re a Bitcoin holder, we’re the largest holder of Bitcoin in the world. We’re the largest purchaser of Bitcoin in the world. We’ll continue to be.”
Pressed again on why the company sold, Le reduced the explanation to two points: “We sold because we wanted to inoculate the market and we sold because we wanted to test our processes.” Asked what Strategy learned, he replied: “We learned that everything works.”
Le also suggested the reaction was more pronounced among retail holders than among institutions. “The question is, why does the sale of 32 BTC get so much attention?” he said. “Our institutional shareholders that we talk to don’t seem to be unnerved by it. I think the unnerving is the retail community that has views on never selling your Bitcoin that are crypto anarchist. And frankly, we have a lot more than just them as constituents.”
At press time, BTC traded at $62,672.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.
