Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor said the firm may sell some Bitcoin (BTC) to fund dividends, breaking from its long-held "never sell" position.
Q1 Earnings Bombshell
Saylor made the remarks during Strategy's first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, hours after the firm reported a $12.54 billion net loss. The figure came as Bitcoin's price fell 23.8% during the quarter, slashing the value of the company's treasury holdings.
"We will probably sell some bitcoin to pay a dividend just to inoculate the market and send the message that we did it," Saylor told investors.
Strategy currently holds 818,334 BTC at an average cost of $75,537 per coin, according to the company's filing. The firm carries roughly $1.5 billion in annual dividend obligations tied to its Stretch (STRC) preferred stock.
MSTR shares dropped more than 4% in after-hours trading. Bitcoin slipped below $81,000 following the announcement.
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Analyst Reactions Mount
The shift marks a clear pivot from Saylor's February stance, when he told CNBC the company would "buy Bitcoin every quarter forever." K33 head of research Vetle Lunde flagged structural risks tied to STRC earlier this year.
Lunde wrote that STRC holders face capped upside through dividends but real downside during drawdowns.
If the security trades below its target for long, he warned, it could behave more like credit risk than stable yield.
Analyst Taiki Maeda still expects $2 billion to $3 billion in fresh BTC buying via STRC over the next two weeks.
Saylor described the funding model plainly: borrow to buy Bitcoin, let it appreciate, then sell portions to cover payouts. The comments rattled longtime supporters who viewed Strategy's holdings as untouchable.
Saylor's Recent Track Record
In February, Saylor argued Strategy could survive a Bitcoin crash to $8,000 without selling. At Bitcoin 2026 in Las Vegas last week, he pitched STRC as the world's fastest-growing credit instrument, citing $8.5 billion in assets gathered over nine months. Days before the earnings call, he announced a one-week pause in BTC purchases, only the second such break this year.
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