Strategy Sells 32 Bitcoin to Pay Preferred Dividends, Its First Net Sale in Years
For years, the defining feature of Strategy’s balance sheet was that bitcoin only ever went in. That changed on Monday. In a regulatory filing dated June 1, the company formerly known as MicroStrategy disclosed that it sold 32 BTC in the final week of May, and that the money will go toward dividends owed to holders of its preferred stock.
The amount is tiny next to the company’s stockpile. The signal is not, and markets treated it that way.
What the filing shows
According to Strategy’s 8-K filing with the SEC, the company sold 32 bitcoin between May 26 and May 31 for an aggregate of about $2.5 million, an average of $77,135 per coin after fees. A footnote states that proceeds from the sales “are expected to be used to fund distributions on preferred stock.”
After the sale, Strategy reported holding 843,706 BTC as of May 31, acquired for a combined $63.87 billion at an average price of $75,699 per coin. The previous week’s update had put holdings at 843,738 BTC, so the sale left the company with 32 fewer coins than a week earlier and no new purchases in the period.
The same filing shows Strategy kept raising money in other ways. It sold 801,994 shares of its Class A common stock through its at-the-market program for net proceeds of $128.3 million, and it lifted its U.S. dollar reserve from $871 million to $900 million. That reserve, set up last December, exists to cover preferred dividends and interest on debt. The company also said it would keep the annual dividend rate on its Stretch preferred stock (STRC) at 11.50% for June, and its board declared a full slate of preferred dividends payable on June 30.
A long-flagged break with tradition
The move did not come out of nowhere. On the company’s first-quarter earnings call, executive chairman Michael Saylor told investors, “We will probably sell some bitcoin to pay a dividend just to inoculate the market and send the message that we did it,” as reported by CoinDesk. Saylor has spent years arguing that bitcoin should be held indefinitely, which is why that remark drew attention when he made it.
CoinDesk described the sale as the first time in four years that Strategy has sold bitcoin, and the first net reduction in holdings shown in one of its standalone 8-K updates. The company’s last disclosed sale came in December 2022, when it sold a small batch of coins in a move tied to tax losses and quickly bought more. The 32 BTC sold last week represent roughly 0.0038% of the company’s total.
The timing follows a busy stretch for the company’s capital structure. In its May 26 update, Strategy said it had bought 24,869 BTC between May 11 and May 25, funded mostly by $2.0 billion of STRC preferred stock issuance. It also spent about $1.38 billion of cash to repurchase $1.5 billion in principal of convertible notes due 2029, which reduced its outstanding convertible debt to $6.7 billion. As of May 25, Strategy had $15.5 billion in notional preferred stock outstanding, and each of those instruments carries a dividend that must be paid in cash.
Market reaction
Investors did not shrug off the symbolism. CoinDesk reported that Strategy shares fell about 6% on Monday and were trading near $150. Bitcoin slipped below $71,500 the same day, a move CoinDesk tied both to the Strategy disclosure and to news that Iran had halted talks with the United States over Israel’s actions in Lebanon. More than $90 million in bitcoin futures positions were liquidated shortly afterward, according to the same report.
The disclosure also landed during a weak period for investment flows. CoinShares data cited by CoinDesk showed $1.67 billion leaving digital asset investment products in the last week of May, the second largest weekly outflow of the year. Bitcoin products alone lost $1.44 billion, the biggest weekly bitcoin outflow of 2026, and three straight weeks of redemptions added up to $4.21 billion.
Why it matters for crypto readers
Strategy is the largest publicly traded holder of bitcoin, and many investors view it as a bellwether for the whole corporate treasury trend. Dozens of smaller listed companies have copied its model of issuing stock and debt to buy bitcoin. The core promise of that model was that coins would be accumulated, not distributed.
The filing shows that this promise now sits alongside a growing set of cash obligations. Preferred dividends at double digit rates have to be paid every month or quarter whether bitcoin rises or falls. Strategy has several ways to meet them: issuing common stock, drawing on its dollar reserve, or, as of this week, selling small amounts of bitcoin. Saylor has framed the decision in terms of bitcoin per share, saying in a CoinDesk interview that management favors whichever funding route is better for shareholders on that measure.
Seen narrowly, 32 coins will not move a market that trades billions of dollars a day. Seen more broadly, the sale removes a psychological floor that many traders had assumed: that the biggest corporate buyer would never be a seller. Whether the company now treats sales as a routine tool or a one-off demonstration is the open question.
What to watch next
The next test comes at the end of June, when Strategy’s latest round of preferred dividends falls due. Investors will be watching the company’s weekly Monday filings to see how it funds those payments, how its dollar reserve moves, and whether bitcoin sales appear again. With fund outflows running at their fastest pace of the year, the answer will matter well beyond one company’s balance sheet.