Author: Shenchao TechFlow
On June 1, Strategy, the world’s largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder, filed an 8-K form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), disclosing the sale of 32 Bitcoin between May 26 and 31 at an average price of approximately $77,135, resulting in proceeds of about $2.5 million. The filing explicitly stated that the proceeds “are expected to be used to pay preferred stock dividends.” This marks Strategy’s first Bitcoin sale since December 2022 and has been characterized by analysts as the company’s first-ever disclosed net reduction in its Bitcoin holdings; in contrast, its 2022 sale of 704 Bitcoin occurred alongside a net purchase of 2,395 Bitcoin during the same period, resulting in an overall net increase—differing fundamentally from this transaction.
On that day, Executive Chairman Michael Saylor’s only public response was an X post unrelated to selling coins: “Our goal is to make $STRC the best credit instrument in the world.” Market reactions, however, were far more tense than this statement suggested. MSTR’s stock price fell 4.72% to $151.57, hitting a 45-day low and nearly erasing all its year-to-date gains. Bitcoin price dropped below $72,000, declining approximately 2.77% on the day. BTC-linked futures saw over $90 million in liquidations within 24 hours, with total liquidations across broader crypto futures exceeding $600 million.
32 coins were sold above cost, and during the same period, an additional 800,000 common shares were issued.
Strategy disclosed in its Form 8-K filed on June 1 that the company sold 32 bitcoins in batches between May 26 and 31 at an average price of approximately $77,135, recovering a total of about $2.5 million. As of May 31, the company held 843,706 bitcoins with an average purchase cost of approximately $75,699. The sale price remained slightly above the holding cost but was about 25% below the bitcoin peak of nearly $97,939 in early 2026.
At the same time, Strategy sold 801,944 shares of common stock, raising approximately $128.3 million. This capital partially addresses the cash shortfall resulting from the prior discounted repurchase of $1.5 billion in convertible notes. This week, Strategy completed three capital maneuvers—selling crypto assets, issuing additional common shares, and repurchasing convertible notes—collectively reinforcing its cash buffer as it restructures its capital base.
Analysts maintain target price: 32 coins are insignificant, but the market clearly isn't buying it.
Since initiating his Bitcoin accumulation strategy in August 2020, Saylor has repeatedly made public commitments to "never sell." On the evening of May 31, after selling his last coins, he still posted his customary "orange dot" graphic on X—a symbol historically interpreted by the market as an indication that a new Bitcoin purchase will be announced soon.
On June 1, instead of an announcement about buying cryptocurrency, investors received disclosure of the coin sale via an 8-K filing. Shortly after the U.S. market opened, Saylor posted on X: “Our goal is to make $STRC the best credit instrument in the world.” This tweet made no mention of the Bitcoin sale and offered no explanation for the first net reduction in holdings in four years. Strategy’s official account also did not issue a separate statement regarding the sale; the entire event was disclosed solely through SEC filings. This approach was interpreted by some investors as an attempt to downplay the situation.
Wall Street analysts are highly aligned in their assessment of this coin sell-off: the scale is insignificant. However, the market's actual reaction has been noticeably more tense.
TD Cowen Managing Director Lance Vitanza maintains a "Buy" rating and a $400 price target on MSTR. He explicitly stated that headlines suggesting Strategy has substantially reduced its Bitcoin holdings are misleading, emphasizing that 32 Bitcoin represent only 0.0038% of the company’s total holdings of 843,700 Bitcoin, which is economically insignificant. Vitanza noted that TD Cowen’s internal models have long accounted for the expectation of small tactical sales, and no core assumptions have been adjusted.
Mark Palmer, Managing Director at Benchmark, reached a similar conclusion: “We do not expect Strategy to rely on selling Bitcoin as the primary source of funds for paying dividends on STRC and other perpetual preferred shares.”
The quantity of 32 coins has never been the issue. The problem is the cash flow pressure it reveals.
$100 million face value红线 for STRC: Fixed cash commitment of $100 million per month
The core of this coin sale lies in Strategy’s STRC (Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock). This perpetual preferred stock has been Strategy’s flagship financing instrument over the past year, with a size of approximately $10.48 billion and a consistent annualized dividend rate of 11.5% maintained for the past four months. Based on the current size and interest rate, the monthly dividend payout is approximately $100 million, constituting a fixed cash flow obligation that the company must continuously manage.
The design mechanism of STRC directly links Bitcoin purchases with dividend payments. When the market price of STRC exceeds its $100 face value, the company can continuously raise funds through its ATM tool, using a portion of the proceeds to purchase Bitcoin. When the market price of STRC falls below its $100 face value, the company loses its ability to raise new capital through share issuance and must use existing cash reserves to pay dividends.
In the final week of May, STRC was trading below its $100 par value. With Strategy’s current USD cash reserves at approximately $900 million, the cash buffer had significantly narrowed following the repurchase of $1.5 billion face value of convertible notes in May. Under these circumstances, the company elected to sell 32 bitcoins to cover STRC’s dividend payment for the month, effectively a passive realization of a structural cash flow obligation.
The essential differences from 2022, and how much buffer space remains
The only publicly disclosed sale of crypto by Strategy occurred in December 2022, when the company sold 704 bitcoins, cashing out approximately $11.8 million. However, during the same period, it net purchased 2,395 bitcoins, resulting in an overall net increase. At the time, the company officially characterized this action as "tax-loss harvesting," intended to offset capital gains from other assets, and it did not constitute a reduction in holdings.
The key difference from 2022 is that this marks the first time in Strategy’s history that a net reduction in holdings was disclosed via a separate Form 8-K, explicitly tied to paying preferred stock dividends rather than tax optimization. Saylor himself indicated in an interview in early May that selling some Bitcoin before the end of the year was “not impossible”—a statement that, in hindsight, carried significant implication.
Rajiv Sawhney, Head of International Portfolio Management at Wave Digital Assets, previously told Sherwood News that the sustainability of the STRC model depends on two factors: the intensity of demand from STRC investors and the health of Strategy's debt-to-Bitcoin ratio. Citing industry analysis, he noted that the company had approximately $10 to $15 billion in buffer before reaching an uncomfortable level for this ratio, but that this buffer has been "significantly depleted" over the past two months.
CoinDesk's analysis notes that some in the market are drawing parallels between this sell-off and the 2022 sell-off, when Strategy’s sales coincided closely with the bottom of the crypto bear market (when Bitcoin was around $16,800), followed by a prolonged bull market. Whether this sell-off again lands near a "bottom" will depend on Bitcoin’s future price movement. Currently, BTC is down approximately 25% from its early 2026 high of about $97,939 and still has nearly 20% room to fall from its February low of $59,930.