Strategy CEO defends selling Bitcoin at $60K before buying back at $80K

Sep 1, 2026

Strategy CEO Phong Le defended the company's decision to sell roughly 7,000 Bitcoin near $60,000 before buying back 4,603 Bitcoin at $80,318. Le explained that the trades were driven by capital costs rather than market timing. During a 10-week buying pause triggered by a decline in its STRC preferred stock, Strategy restructured its balance sheet, reducing net debt from $7 billion to zero and building $7 billion in cash reserves to secure its position as a two-way capital management firm.

Bitcoin sale near $60K

▪Strategy CEO Phong Le defended the company's sale of approximately 7,000 Bitcoin in the $60,000 to $65,000 range, calling it the "right trade" at the time to fund preferred dividends.
▪The approximately 7,000 Bitcoin sold by Strategy during its 10-week buying pause represented less than 1% of the company's total cryptocurrency treasury.
▪Strategy sold 6,916 Bitcoin in four tranches from late June through mid-August 2026 at a weighted-average price of about $62,200.

Bitcoin repurchase near $80K

▪Strategy resumed its Bitcoin purchases after a 10-week pause, acquiring 4,603 Bitcoin for approximately $369.7 million at an average price of $80,318 per coin.
▪The purchase of 4,603 Bitcoin raised Strategy's total holdings to 845,050 Bitcoin as of August 30, 2026, valued at approximately $65 billion.
▪Strategy CEO Phong Le stated that the company expects to continue purchasing Bitcoin at higher price levels, such as $90,000, $100,000, or $130,000, if cost-of-capital conditions support the transactions.

Balance sheet restructuring

▪During its 10-week purchasing pause, Strategy reduced its net debt from approximately $7 billion to zero and increased its total assets to $72 billion.
▪Strategy raised $20 billion in equity capital in 2026, ranking fourth among U.S. equity capital raisers behind SpaceX, Google, and Intel.
▪Strategy built its reserves to include approximately $7 billion in U.S. dollar reserves, which includes a $5.10 billion reserve for preferred dividends and debt interest and $1.61 billion in USD cash.

Capital cost decision drivers

▪Strategy CEO Phong Le described the company's model as a "two-way capital management strategy" rather than a one-way accumulation model, allowing the firm to buy and sell Bitcoin, equity, and preferred securities.
▪Strategy CEO Phong Le stated that decisions to buy or sell Bitcoin are driven by the company's cost of capital and balance sheet math rather than the prevailing market price of Bitcoin.

STRC preferred stock crisis

▪Strategy's STRC variable-rate perpetual preferred stock plunged to $71.25 on June 26, 2026, raising capital costs for the firm before recovering to $97.10 as of August 31, 2026.
▪Strategy has repurchased $152 million of its STRC preferred stock recently, bringing its total STRC repurchases to $636.2 million since launching the buyback program.
▪Strategy responded to the preferred stock decline by launching a Digital Credit Capital Framework on June 29, 2026, which authorized up to $1 billion in STRC repurchases and a $1 billion MSTR share buyback.

Bitcoin treasury model resilience

▪Critics in June 2026 compared Strategy's leveraged Bitcoin treasury model to the collapsed Terra ecosystem, predicting a similar financial death spiral.
▪Strategy's MSTR shares gained approximately 30% in August 2026, outpacing Bitcoin's 24% monthly rise as the cryptocurrency rebounded from its summer lows.