Strategy chief executive Phong Le has defended the company’s decision to sell about 7,000 bitcoin at between $60,000 and $65,000 before returning to the market near $80,000, saying the transactions were shaped by the cost of raising capital rather than bitcoin’s price.
“It was the right trade at the time to sell bitcoin to fund some of our Stretch dividends,” Le said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Tuesday. “It’s the right trade at this point in time to sell MSTR at a premium to buy bitcoin.”
The company paused bitcoin purchases for approximately 10 weeks while strengthening its balance sheet. During that period, Le said Strategy cut its net debt from about $7bn to zero and accumulated roughly $7bn in cash reserves.
Strategy, which is based in Tysons Corner, Virginia, bought a further 4,603 BTC last week for approximately $369.7m. The purchase was made at an average price of $80,318 and took its total holdings to 845,050 BTC, worth about $65bn at current prices.
Le said Strategy was still a “net accumulator” of bitcoin, but had adopted what he called a “two-way strategy”. That approach allows the company to sell some of its bitcoin when required to meet dividend payments and other financial obligations, rather than only adding to its holdings.
The bitcoin sold during the buying pause accounted for less than 1% of Strategy’s total holdings, Le said. He added that the company had increased its bitcoin holdings by about 30% this year.
Strategy could continue to purchase bitcoin at $90,000, $100,000 or even $130,000 if the economics of raising capital remained favourable, according to Le.
The company’s approach has attracted scrutiny because it sold bitcoin considerably below the level at which it resumed buying. However, Le argued that the comparison should be viewed through the cost and availability of capital, rather than as a straightforward attempt to predict bitcoin’s next price move.
Bernstein analysts maintained their Outperform rating on Strategy last week but reduced their price target from $450 to $350. They also forecast that bitcoin could reach $150,000 by the middle of 2027.
Bitcoin was approaching $77,000 early on Wednesday, although it was down 1.1% over the previous 24 hours, according to The Block’s BTC price page.
Strategy shares closed at $124.88 on Tuesday, a fall of 6.1% for the day, according to The Block’s MSTR price page.
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