Strategy Authorizes Up to $1.25B in Bitcoin Sales, Reversing Saylor's "Never Sell" Pledge
Michael Saylor's Strategy has authorized selling up to $1.25 billion in bitcoin to fund share buybacks after its stock and preferred shares slid to 52-week lows, though no coins have been sold.
After its stock and largest preferred share hit 52-week lows, Michael Saylor's Strategy has cleared the way to sell bitcoin it long promised to hold — though it hasn't sold any yet.
Strategy, which holds 847,363 BTC, on June 26 authorized the sale of up to $1.25 billion of bitcoin under what it branded a "BTC Monetization Program," according to secondary reporting from Protos (June 29). At current prices that is roughly 21,000 BTC — about 30 times the company's largest prior sale, 704 BTC in 2022, per Protos. Proceeds would fund up to $1 billion in preferred-share repurchases and up to $1 billion in MSTR buybacks.
The move reverses years of guidance against selling. CEO Phong Le framed it as "evolving from one-way capital issuance to active capital management," and CFO Andrew Kang offered the slogan "Bitcoin is capital" — company-supplied phrasing that should be read as messaging, not fact. Saylor, in a June 26 post on X (a primary source), said only that "Strategy remains focused on Bitcoin, disciplined capital allocation, credit quality, and long-term value creation."
Strategy also raised STRC's dividend from 11.5% to 12% after the preferred share fell well below its $100 target. Per Protos, MSTR and STRC opened ~5% higher on the sale news, while BTC was little changed — the company has announced, not executed, sales.
Key facts
- Authorized BTC sales: up to $1.25B (~21,000 BTC) — Protos, June 29.
- Holdings: 847,363 BTC, acquired for $64.1B (avg $75,651), now worth ~$50B; unrealized loss ~$14B — Protos.
- STRC 52-week low: $71.25 (Protos) / $71.76 (BitcoinTreasuries.NET, cited by Protos), June 26; MSTR low $82.33, ~82% below its $457.22 high — Protos.
- mNAV: 1.04x; cash reserve ~$2.55B, covering ~17 months of $1.7B annual dividend/interest, ~26 months if authorized sales occur — Protos.
- STRC dividend raised 11.5% → 12% — Protos.
Opinion, and whose
- Saylor's claim of ~30% annual BTC CAGR is a forecast, not fact; Protos notes BTC's five-year CAGR is under 13%.
- Protos characterizes the reversal as a "betrayal" of prior guidance — its framing, not ours.
Sources
- Protos (June 29 and June 26, secondary): sale authorization, dividend change, price and holdings figures, market reaction. It cited BitcoinTreasuries.NET for the STRC low.
- Michael Saylor / @saylor (June 26, primary): company statement on strategy.
- Blockworks (Jan 6): could not be retrieved — a bot-verification page returned no usable content; not used.
This is news, not financial advice.