For years, Strategy has made “never sell a single satoshi” a true credo. In 2026, this promise will be shattered. Michael Saylor’s company has already recorded more than $102 million in losses made by repeatedly selling bitcoins below their average purchase price. Behind these sales lies a reality more complex than a simple accounting arbitrage: the growing pressure from institutional financing. These sales operations raise questions about the solidity of the model defended by the most famous holder of bitcoin listed on the stock exchange.
In brief
- The company Strategy breaks its emblematic doctrine of holdings in perpetuity by recording more than $102 million in losses realized on its bitcoin sales in 2026.
- The last recorded sale involved 1,690 bitcoins sold for $108.6 million, at an average price of $64,262 significantly lower than its acquisition cost of $75,400.
- This urgent monetization aims to honor $1.2 billion in annual dividend obligations on its STRC preferred stock, whose cash flow coverage has collapsed from seven years to fourteen months.
- As the firm’s stock trades below its net asset value, management favors the sale of a fraction of its 840,000 bitcoins rather than a highly dilutive share issue for its investors.
- While the board of directors authorizes up to $1.25 billion in potential sales, the sustainability of this cash management will depend on the ability of the spot market to return above the company’s equilibrium price.
Breaking the dogma of bitcoin accumulation
Strategy’s operational trajectory in 2026 marks a concrete shift through the execution of several successive disposals on the market. During the week ended August 9 alone, the firm sold 1,690 bitcoins for a total amount of $108.6 million, or an average sale price of approximately $64,262 per unit. This transaction is carried out directly below its overall cost price, estimated at around $75,400 per bitcoin, thus materializing a net loss on the operation.
According to data compiled by Cryptoquant analyststhese repeated sales, at least four operations recorded over the last two years, now bring the cumulative losses made by the firm to more than $102 million over the 2026 monetization program. In parallel with these sales, the company is trying to maintain its narrative of active accumulation by making modest readjustments. A separate purchase of 520 bitcoins for approximately $35 million was recorded, illustrating management’s desire to balance its communication while managing its cash flow.
Beyond the amounts liquidated, the overall situation of the company’s treasury reveals the extent of the accounting adjustments suffered under the effect of price volatility. Despite the recent sales, Strategy maintains a massive portfolio of around 840,000 bitcoins, but finds itself facing nearly $10.6 billion in unrealized losses on all positions created between 2024 and 2026.
The evolution of the price of the asset, which remained for a large part of the year below the break-even threshold of $75,400, weighed heavily on the company’s financial statements. When publishing its second quarter results, the entity went from a net profit of $14 billion to a net loss of $8.22 billion, under the direct impact of mark-to-market depreciation. Although these accounting impairments do not immediately result in a direct cash outflow as a payment default would, they illustrate the vulnerability of the company’s balance sheet to prolonged fluctuations in the spot market.
To summarize the overall financial situation of the firm at this stage, the important accounting elements of this exercise revolve around the following metrics:
- 102 million dollars: this is the cumulative amount of losses realized in 2026 during disposals below the cost price;
- 1,690 bitcoins: this is the volume sold during the last operation recorded for $108.6 million;
- 840,000 bitcoins: this is the total volume of assets held in the company’s treasury;
- $10.6 billion: this is the estimate of unrealized capital losses accumulated on purchases made between 2024 and 2026;
- $8.22 billion: this is the net loss reported in the second quarter due to mark-to-market.
The dividend trap and the stock price trap
The fundamental explanation for this sales program lies in the very structure of the company’s capital and the spectacular increase in its commitments to its privileged investors. To finance its massive purchases of bitcoins in recent years, the firm has issued large quantities of variable-rate preferred shares, notably STRC securities, generating considerable recurring financial charges.
Cryptoquant analysts now estimate annual preferred dividend obligations at nearly $1.2 billion, an amount that has nearly quadrupled as securities are issued. This increase in workload has dramatically reduced the level of financial security of the company. Its dividend coverage by available cash flow has fallen from more than seven years to just fourteen months at the current rate.
To replenish a sufficient 24-month cash reserve, Michael Saylor’s firm would need to have $2.8 billion in reserves, nearly double its current cash balance. It is precisely to meet this liquidity constraint, pay these dividends and proceed with the direct repurchase of STRC preferred shares that the proceeds from the last sale of $108.6 million were allocated.
This choice of financial arbitrage is also dictated by the behavior of the company’s shares on the stock markets. With the stock having fallen nearly 40% this year to trade in a range between $90 and $95, its market value has settled below a net asset value (NAV) multiple of less than 1. In such a discount configuration, issuing new common shares to raise liquid funds would become highly dilutive and disadvantageous to existing shareholders.
With the board of directors having authorized a global divestment program of up to $1.25 billion in bitcoin, management has significant legal flexibility to continue these operations if market conditions require it. This strategy shows that the current sales are not the result of an immediate banking emergency, but of a deliberate arbitrage aimed at balancing the cost of capital in the equity markets and the value of the bitcoin reserve.
Market dynamics for investors
In perspective, this situation highlights Strategy’s delicate transition to a hybrid asset management model where crypto cash must constantly coexist with the constraints of a publicly traded balance sheet.
While market operators largely anticipate the continuation of this arbitrage program in view of the authorized envelope still available of 1.25 billion dollars, the company’s ability to preserve the integrity of its treasury will rely on the medium-term evolution of the price of the asset.
If a lasting rise in the price of bitcoin above the average price of $75,400 would make it possible to absorb unrealized capital losses and facilitate less dilutive capital raisings, prolonged stagnation will force the firm to maintain this cautious course. The institutional ecosystem is thus carefully observing this textbook case, where classic financial engineering now sets the pace for the management of the largest corporate reserve of bitcoins in the world.
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