Strategy CEO Phong Le stepped in front of the cameras on September 1 to answer what has become an uncomfortable question: why did the company sell Bitcoin near $60,000 and then buy it back above $80,000?
LATEST: ⚡ Strategy CEO Phong Le defended selling roughly 7,000 BTC at $60,000-$65,000 to fund preferred dividends, calling it “the right trade at the time” on Bloomberg TV. pic.twitter.com/VjG3naqcRz
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His answer was straightforward. Strategy does not trade Bitcoin based on its price. It trades based on the cost of raising capital.
MSTR stock is currently trading at $123.47, down 64% over the past 12 months. Bitcoin was at $76,900 as of September 2.
Le appeared on Bloomberg Crypto to lay out the logic. When Strategy can issue common stock at a premium to its net asset value, buying Bitcoin with those proceeds is accretive on a per-share basis. When it cannot, selling Bitcoin to meet financial obligations may be the better move.
“We don’t buy or sell Bitcoin based on the price of Bitcoin,” Le said. “We buy or sell based on our cost of capital.”
Between July and August, Strategy sold roughly 7,000 BTC across three disclosed transactions totaling 5,553 BTC. The sales generated dollars to cover preferred dividend payments and fund a broader balance sheet cleanup.
Le called the sales “minuscule” relative to total holdings and said selling Bitcoin to pay preferred dividends was “the right trade at the time.”
Strategy used the two-month pause in Bitcoin buying to shore up its finances. It built its dollar asset base to $6.71 billion as of August 30, nearly matching its $6.75 billion in convertible debt.
That brought its self-reported net leverage to 0.0%. Le called the balance sheet a “fortress,” arguing the company has no hard Bitcoin liquidation price baked into its debt structure.
During the same period, Strategy sold approximately $602.8 million in common stock and used part of those proceeds to repurchase $152 million of its STRC preferred stock below the $100 stated value.
On August 31, Strategy filed to confirm it had purchased 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million between August 24 and August 30, at an average price of $80,318 per coin.
That brings total holdings to 845,050 BTC, acquired for approximately $63.73 billion at an average cost of $75,412 per coin. Strategy now holds just over 4% of Bitcoin’s total 21 million supply.
Le said the return to buying was not a call on Bitcoin’s price direction. It was a capital allocation decision made once MSTR’s stock premium made common equity issuance attractive again.
He added that Strategy could buy Bitcoin at $90,000, $100,000, or even $130,000 if the financing conditions justify it. And it could sell again if that makes more sense for the balance sheet.
The board formally authorized a Bitcoin monetization program in June, permitting up to $1.25 billion in BTC sales to build a designated USD reserve and cover obligations.
As of September 2, Bitcoin was trading at $76,900.
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