Overview
- Strategy, a Bitcoin treasury firm, has sold 32 BTC for approximately $2.5 million, achieving an average sale price of $77,135 per Bitcoin.
- This sale indicates a shift from the firm’s previous "never sell" policy, following comments from CEO Michael Saylor that they would sell Bitcoin when beneficial for the business.
- In the wake of this news, Bitcoin’s price fell to around $72,000.
Last week, Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy executed a sale of 32 BTC for about $2.5 million, as disclosed in an SEC filing. The average price achieved was $77,135 per Bitcoin, reducing the firm’s total holdings to 843,706 BTC, valued at roughly $61 billion at current market rates.
The proceeds from this BTC sale are intended to fund distributions on preferred stock, according to the filing.
This transaction marks a departure from Strategy's previously unwavering "never sell" philosophy. In a recent earnings call, Michael Saylor, the firm’s Chair, indicated a possible shift, saying, "We'll probably sell some Bitcoin to fund a dividend just to inoculate the market—just to send the message that we did it.”
Phong Le, Strategy's President and CEO, mentioned that the firm "will sell Bitcoin when it's advantageous to the company," suggesting potential sales could occur to acquire U.S. dollars or settle debt if it positively impacts Bitcoin per share.
Market analysts speculated that this change in Strategy's selling policy could lead to "short-term panic," with Altura COO Mathew Pinnock commenting to Decrypt that the immediate consequence would be a shift in perception and a decrease in sentiment regarding the asset's conviction.
This sale follows closely on the heels of Strategy utilizing 61% of its cash reserves, approximately $1.38 billion, to buy back $1.5 billion in convertible notes.
As a result of the sale, Bitcoin's price saw an immediate decline, dropping to just above $72,000, representing a decrease of 2.4% on that day, according to CoinGecko data.
Notably, this is not the first occasion that Strategy has sold Bitcoin; in December 2022, the firm sold 704 BTC for about $11.8 million, later repurchasing 810 BTC two days later as part of a tax loss harvesting strategy.
This is a developing story and will be updated.