Strategy Sells 3,588 Bitcoin for $216 Million to Fund Preferred Dividends

For years, the most famous rule in corporate bitcoin was the one Michael Saylor repeated at every opportunity: never sell. On Monday, the company he built around that idea confirmed it had sold 3,588 BTC in a single week, by far its largest disposal to date.

Strategy, the Nasdaq-listed firm formerly known as MicroStrategy and still the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, disclosed the sales in a Form 8-K filed with the SEC on July 6. The proceeds, roughly $216 million after fees, were used to pay distributions on the company’s preferred stock and to top up the cash reserve it set aside for those payments.

What the filing shows

The sales happened in two batches. Between June 29 and June 30, Strategy sold 1,363 BTC for $80.8 million, an average of $59,256 per coin. From July 1 to July 5, it sold another 2,225 BTC for $135.2 million, at an average of $60,773.

After both batches, the company held 843,775 BTC as of July 5. It paid an aggregate $63.69 billion for that stack, or $75,476 per coin on average, including fees. That means the coins it sold went for well below what the company paid on average, a point the filing makes plain: as of June 30, the cost basis of Strategy’s bitcoin exceeded its fair value.

The same document gives a first look at the second quarter. Strategy reported an $8.32 billion loss on digital assets for the three months ended June 30, almost all of it unrealized, and a digital asset carrying value of $49.67 billion at quarter end. The company said it will record a valuation allowance against the related deferred tax asset, offsetting it in full. Those figures were prepared by management and have not been reviewed by its auditor, KPMG.

Strategy also said it sold no common shares under its at-the-market program and bought back no stock during the week. Its US dollar reserve, which it keeps to cover preferred dividends and interest on its debt, stood at $2.55 billion.

A new program, and a change in tone

The sales did not come out of nowhere. On June 29, Strategy announced what it calls a BTC Monetization Program, which lets it sell bitcoin from time to time, including to raise up to $1.25 billion in extra funding for the dollar reserve. According to Monday’s filing, the full $1.25 billion of that capacity remained available as of July 5, which suggests more sales are possible on top of last week’s.

The company had already broken the taboo in a smaller way. In late May, it sold 32 BTC, which it disclosed in early June. That sale was tiny, but it arrived during a sharp sell-off, and many traders blamed it for adding to the panic. Monday’s sale is more than 100 times larger.

Chief executive Phong Le framed the shift as a deliberate strategy rather than a forced move, saying the company is “evolving from one-way capital issuance to active capital management,” according to CoinDesk’s live coverage. Saylor announced the sale on X and has argued in recent weeks that occasional sales to fund dividends could help the market get used to the idea.

How the market reacted

The disclosure landed during a fragile stretch for bitcoin. The price slipped from about $62,900 to roughly $61,900 after the filing became public, CoinDesk reported, before recovering to around $63,400 by midday in New York. Strategy’s own shares were down about 2% in premarket trading.

Bitcoin is still roughly 50% below its all-time high of about $126,000, set in October 2025. It had just posted its best week since March, but US spot bitcoin ETFs have recorded weeks of net outflows and the second quarter ended near $60,000, down from about $68,000 at the start of April.

Commentators split along familiar lines. Some argued that selling a small slice of holdings to pay dividends is cheaper for common shareholders than issuing new stock, which dilutes them. Strive executive Joe Burnett said the sale covered about a month and a half of dividend obligations, according to CoinDesk. Critics, including longtime bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff, said it showed the model now depends on selling the asset the company was built to accumulate.

Why it matters for crypto readers

Strategy is not just another holder. It owns about 4% of all bitcoin that will ever exist, and many smaller “treasury companies” copied its playbook of raising money through stock and preferred shares to buy coins. Its preferred securities, sold under tickers such as STRC, STRK, STRD and STRF, carry fixed or variable dividends that must be paid in cash regardless of where bitcoin trades.

When bitcoin was rising, the company could fund those payments by selling new shares at a premium. With the price well below Strategy’s average cost and its stock no longer trading at the same premium, that route is harder. Selling bitcoin is the obvious alternative, and Monday’s filing shows management is now willing to use it at scale.

The amounts are still small next to the company’s total holdings: 3,588 BTC is less than half of 1% of its stack. But the market now has to price in a large, regular seller that was once treated as a permanent buyer. Strategy files weekly updates on Mondays, so traders will be watching each new 8-K for signs of how often, and how much, it plans to sell.