By Strategy sold bitcoin around $60,000 during the summer and resumed buying last week at an average $80,318. CEO Phong Le says there is no contradiction.
“We don’t buy or sell Bitcoin based on the price of Bitcoin,” Le said in a Bloomberg Crypto interview on September 1. “We buy or sell based on our cost of capital.”
That distinction changes how Strategy’s bitcoin transactions should be read. The company is not presenting purchases as a directional call on bitcoin’s next move. It is comparing bitcoin with the cost and availability of common equity, preferred stock, cash and other sources of financing.
The result can look like selling low and buying high on a bitcoin chart while still being, in Le’s view, the correct corporate-finance decision.
Strategy Sold Roughly 7,000 Bitcoin During Its Financing Reset
Le said Strategy sold roughly 7,000 BTC while restructuring its balance sheet, calling the amount “minuscule” relative to its overall holdings.
Strategy’s public ledger shows three disclosed reductions totaling 5,553 BTC: 2,225 BTC at an average $60,773 in early July, 1,638 BTC at $63,957 in early August and another 1,690 BTC at $64,262 the following week. The company had also sold 1,363 BTC at $59,256 at the end of June.
The proceeds were not described as an attempt to time a bitcoin top.
Le said the sales helped fund preferred-stock obligations, including what he called Strategy’s “stretch dividends.”
“It was the right trade at the time to sell Bitcoin to fund some of our stretch dividends,” Le said. He contrasted that with the current environment, where issuing MSTR shares at a premium has again become an attractive source of capital for buying bitcoin.
Strategy formally introduced a bitcoin monetization framework in June allowing it to sell BTC to support its dollar reserve, preferred dividends and interest payments, as well as securities repurchases.
Strategy Then Bought 4,603 Bitcoin at $80,318
The other side of Le’s argument arrived last week.
Strategy bought 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million between August 24 and August 30, paying an average $80,318 per bitcoin. The purchase lifted total holdings to 845,050 BTC, acquired for approximately $63.73 billion at an average cost of $75,412.
FinanceFeeds covered that purchase on August 31, when bitcoin was already trading below the price Strategy had just paid. FinanceFeeds’ August 31 report on Strategy’s 4,603 BTC purchase
But Le’s comments make clear that the $80,318 purchase price was not the decision variable.
Strategy sold approximately $602.8 million of MSTR common stock during the same week. If management can issue equity at a sufficiently attractive premium and use the proceeds to increase bitcoin exposure per share, the absolute bitcoin price can be secondary to the financing spread.
Bitcoin Is Now Part of a Two-Way Capital Strategy
Le described Strategy’s approach as a “two-way strategy.”
The company may sell bitcoin when another use of capital is more attractive, while still intending to remain a net accumulator over time. Le also argued that a company unwilling to sell assets when its financing economics justify doing so is not behaving like a true operating business.
The balance sheet helps explain the flexibility.
Strategy reported about $6.71 billion of dollar assets against approximately $6.75 billion of convertible debt, producing a company-defined net leverage ratio of 0.0%. That does not mean its debt or preferred obligations have disappeared; it means dollar assets almost offset convertible debt under Strategy’s calculation.
For investors, the implication extends beyond one awkward-looking round trip.
A future Strategy bitcoin purchase should not automatically be read as management saying bitcoin is cheap. A sale should not automatically mean it has turned bearish.
Under Le’s framework, both can happen at almost any bitcoin price if Strategy’s cost of capital changes enough.
MSTR closed at $124.88 on September 1, down 6.1% from $132.94 on August 31. At write time Wednesday, the shares were trading around $122.3, extending the decline even as Strategy defended the financing logic behind its bitcoin strategy.