Strategy Sells 1,690 Bitcoin Below Cost Basis to Fund STRC Buyback

Michael Saylor's Strategy sold 1,690 Bitcoin for $108.6 million to fund another buyback of its STRC preferred stock. The move affects mainly MSTR and STRC shareholders, but it signals how the largest corporate Bitcoin holder now balances accumulating the coin against supporting its own capital structure.

Why Strategy Is Selling Bitcoin Again

According to an 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, Strategy sold 1,690 Bitcoin between August 3 and 9. The 8-K, a standard document public companies use to report material corporate events to the SEC, has turned into an almost weekly ritual of disclosure for Strategy.

Since 2020, when Saylor started buying Bitcoin for the balance sheet of what was then MicroStrategy, the company publicly positioned itself as a holder that never sells under any circumstances. The launch of STRC preferred stock in 2025 changed that logic. Part of the Bitcoin reserve became a liquidity source for covering dividend obligations to holders of that stock.

The sale was Strategy's fourth disclosed Bitcoin sale of 2026. The company has sold 6,948 BTC in total this year, and its holdings have shrunk to 840,447 coins purchased for an aggregate $63.36 billion. A week earlier, Strategy sold 1,638 BTC for $104.73 million under the same scheme.

What Selling Below Cost Basis Means

The latest tranche went at an average price of $64,262 per coin. That is clearly below the average purchase price of the company's entire portfolio, which stands at $75,385 per BTC including fees. In plain terms, these specific 1,690 coins were sold at a loss relative to what Strategy originally paid for them.

A realized loss on one tranche does not mean a loss on the whole position. The portfolio's average purchase price is still well below Bitcoin's current market price, so Strategy remains profitable on a balance-sheet basis. But the economics of these particular coins are negative, and that is becoming a recurring pattern rather than a one-off event.

For a company whose reputation was built for years on a strict never-sell stance, this marks a visible shift in behavior. Saylor and his team had warned before that part of the holdings might support preferred stock obligations, but the pace of recent weeks turns that from a rare exception into a working dividend-funding mechanism.

How STRC and MSTR Shares Are Reacting

Despite the loss-making sale price on Bitcoin itself, the company's own securities are holding up. STRC climbed back above $90 on August 3, up 24% from its June lows, and traded at $95.45 in premarket on Monday after closing Friday at $95. MSTR shares added 0.25% to $100.26.

The broader backdrop for Bitcoin this week is choppy. The coin is trading in a $63,900-65,000 range ahead of US inflation data that could shape the Federal Reserve's next rate move. In that environment, even a sale that is relatively small next to Strategy's total holdings draws extra attention from traders.

At the same time, Adam Back-backed H100 reported tripling its Bitcoin reserve to 3,506 BTC after a fresh deal, becoming Europe's second-largest corporate Bitcoin holder. The contrast is telling. While one institutional player is building its position, the largest one is monetizing part of its stack to cover dividends.

Strategy still has $785.2 million left under its preferred-stock repurchase program and another $1 billion available under its Class A common-stock buyback program. In parallel, the company grew its dollar reserve to $4.65 billion. It stood at roughly $4 billion a week earlier, and $650 million of the $653.1 million in net proceeds from MSTR stock sales went straight into that buffer.

Risks for MSTR and STRC Holders

Regular sales of part of the reserve to cover preferred dividends create a few things worth watching for anyone holding the company's shares.

• If Bitcoin's price falls, the company will need to sell more coins for the same buyback amount, which would speed up the drawdown of its holdings.
• The gap between the sale price and the portfolio's average cost shows that part of the reserve is no longer profitable at current market prices.
• The buyback program depends on investors' willingness to buy new MSTR shares in the market, not just on the Bitcoin reserve itself.
• Weekly, recurring sales are changing how some institutional investors view Strategy's status as a long-term, unshakeable holder.

What to Expect From Strategy Next

In the coming weeks, the company will most likely stick to the same pattern. Small weekly Bitcoin sales will keep funding STRC buybacks for as long as room remains under both programs. Nothing so far points to a sharp change of course.

Bitcoin holders who track how large corporate treasuries behave and want to exchange Bitcoin for dollars themselves get an extra data point here. Even the largest corporate Bitcoin reserve regularly taps the market once financial obligations come due.