03 Aug 2026 5 min read Western Hemisphere

Strategy Sells 1,638 Bitcoin for $105 Million as Dollar Reserve Reaches $4 Billion

Strategy CEO Phong Le

Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR), the Virginia-based software company turned corporate bitcoin holder, sold 1,638 bitcoin for roughly $104.7 million during the week ended August 2, according to an 8-K filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The coins went at an average net price of $63,957. That reduces the company's holdings to 842,138 BTC, down from the 843,775 it had held since early July. Strategy is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Phong Le, who has held the role since 2022, and by co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, who remains the public face of its bitcoin thesis.

The proceeds did not go toward buying more bitcoin. Strategy directed $52.4 million to dividend payments on its preferred stock and $52.3 million toward repurchasing STRC, its Perpetual Stretch Preferred shares. Separately, the company sold 3,011,361 common shares for $290.6 million, moving $250 million of that into its U.S. dollar reserve, which now stands at $4 billion, with $28.9 million funding additional STRC buybacks and $11.7 million added to cash. Total STRC repurchases came to $81.2 million, or 912,143 shares. The sales follow a Digital Credit Capital Framework the company adopted in late June, which authorized up to $5 billion in bitcoin sales to cover reserves, dividends, interest and securities repurchases. Strategy carries roughly $1.76 billion in annual dividend obligations.

Market Context

The arithmetic behind the sale is unflattering. Strategy acquired its 842,138 coins for $63.51 billion, an average of $75,419 each. At current prices near $62,400, the position is worth about $52.6 billion, leaving roughly $10.9 billion in unrealized losses. Last week the company reported a second-quarter net loss of $8.22 billion, driven almost entirely by an $8.32 billion unrealized markdown on digital assets, a reversal from the $10 billion in net income it posted a year earlier. Shares closed Friday at $93.28, down about 80% from their 2025 peak and roughly 40% for the year. Analysts remain split on where the floor sits: Benchmark cut its price target to $435 from $570 after resetting its year-end bitcoin assumption to $100,000, while TD Cowen holds a $260 target. Both maintain Buy ratings, and both told clients that returning STRC to its $100 par value is now management's central objective.

The strain extends well beyond one company. The corporate bitcoin treasury model worked when firms traded above the value of their coins, letting them issue stock and buy more. That premium has largely evaporated. Strategy's mNAV, the multiple of its market value to its bitcoin holdings, peaked near 3x to 4x during the 2024 rally and fell to roughly 1.16x by spring 2026. BitcoinTreasuries counted 199 public companies holding 1.264 million BTC as of late June, and the combined market value of treasury stocks has fallen about $62 billion from its peak, with many now trading at or below the value of the crypto they hold. Smaller operators including K Wave Media and Sequans have exited the trade altogether.

What Stands Out

"We'll sell Bitcoin when it's advantageous to the company, which we've started to do."

Phong Le, President and CEO, Strategy Inc., on the company's second-quarter earnings call

Le added that shareholders should expect similar sales going forward, and described the biggest lesson of 2026 as the need to hold liquid dollars rather than liquid bitcoin, because preferred stockholders do not view the two the same way.

Regional Relevance

For the United States. Strategy operates from Tysons Corner, Virginia, and its filings have become a proxy for how U.S. public markets absorb crypto volatility on corporate balance sheets. The company holds close to 4% of bitcoin's 21 million supply cap, which makes its treasury decisions a live question for equity investors, index funds and the preferred-securities market that financed the accumulation. The shift matters because Strategy pioneered a structure that roughly 200 U.S.-listed and foreign companies copied. When the originator sells coins to meet dividend obligations rather than to reallocate capital, it tests whether the model was a treasury strategy or a financing arrangement that depended on a rising asset price.

There is a regulatory dimension as well. Strategy's disclosures arrive through standard 8-K filings, which means the SEC framework built for conventional corporate reporting is now the primary window into a $52.6 billion crypto position. How auditors, ratings agencies and preferred shareholders treat these unrealized swings will shape whether other U.S. corporates adopt similar structures or retreat from them.

For Latin America. The region has more exposure to bitcoin's price than its market size suggests. El Salvador holds roughly 7,700 BTC, worth around $474 million as of July, making it the fifth-largest publicly disclosed sovereign holder, with an estimated average cost near $45,200 per coin. That position remained in profit through mid-2026, but the margin narrows as prices fall, and the country's Extended Fund Facility with the IMF has stalled, with two program reviews left incomplete. A prolonged bitcoin downturn complicates the fiscal arithmetic for a government carrying $11.57 billion in pension-related debt. For Guatemala, Mexico and other remittance-dependent economies where crypto rails have gained ground, Strategy's retreat is a reminder that corporate and sovereign accumulation can reverse when obligations come due in dollars rather than coins.

The Other Side

Is this a genuine change in strategy or routine treasury management? Both readings have support. Strategy has sold 3,620 BTC in 2026, about 0.4% of its holdings, and its position sits only 5,225 coins below the 847,363 peak reached in June. The company also bought more bitcoin than it sold this year. But the direction of travel is what investors are pricing: a firm that built its identity on never selling has now authorized up to $5 billion in sales and told analysts to expect more.

Can Strategy meet its dividend obligations without selling more bitcoin? For now, the math works. A $4 billion dollar reserve covers roughly two years of the $1.76 billion in annual dividend and interest payments, and Le has argued that bitcoin could fall to $8,000 or $10,000 before the balance sheet comes under real stress. The harder question is the funding source. Strategy raised $290.6 million last week by selling common stock at prices roughly 80% below the 2025 peak, which means the reserve is being built through dilution at depressed valuations. Roughly $22.7 billion remains available under that program.

What happens if STRC does not return to par? Management has made this the priority, keeping the annualized dividend at 12% and declining to recommend a cut until the shares trade consistently near their $100 stated value. That commitment is expensive. A 12% yield on a preferred instrument trading below par signals that the market wants more compensation than the company would like to pay, and the buyback program has $893.8 million of its $1 billion authorization left. If the discount persists, Strategy faces a choice between spending more cash on repurchases, cutting the dividend and damaging its credit narrative, or selling more bitcoin to bridge the gap.