For years, Strategy has made the “never sell a single satoshi” a true credo. In 2026, this promise falls apart. Michael Saylor’s company has already recorded more than 102 million dollars in
For years, Strategy has made the “never sell a single satoshi” a true credo. In 2026, this promise falls apart. Michael Saylor’s company has already recorded more than 102 million dollars in realized losses by repeatedly selling bitcoins below their average purchase price. Behind these sales lies a more complex reality than simple accounting arbitrage: the growing pressure of institutional financing. These sales operations raise questions about the robustness of the model defended by the most famous publicly traded bitcoin holder.
Strategy’s operational trajectory in 2026 marks a concrete shift through the execution of several successive sales on the market. During the week ending August 9 alone, the firm sold 1,690 bitcoins for a total of 108.6 million dollars, at an average sale price of about 64,262 dollars per unit. This transaction takes place directly below its overall cost basis, estimated around 75,400 dollars per bitcoin, thus realizing a net loss on the operation.
According to data compiled by CryptoQuant analysts, these repeated sales, at least four operations recorded over the past two years, now bring the firm’s total realized losses to over 102 million dollars for the 2026 monetization program. Alongside these sales, the company attempts to maintain its narrative of active accumulation by making modest readjustments. A separate purchase of 520 bitcoins for about 35 million dollars was recorded, illustrating management’s desire to balance communication while managing cash flows.
Beyond the amounts liquidated, the overall situation of the company’s treasury reveals the scale of accounting adjustments due to price volatility. Despite the recent sales, Strategy retains a massive portfolio of about 840,000 bitcoins, but faces nearly 10.6 billion dollars in unrealized losses across its positions built between 2024 and 2026.
The asset price evolution, which remained below the breakeven threshold of 75,400 dollars for much of the year, heavily weighed on the company’s financial statements. When publishing its second-quarter results, the entity swung from a net profit of 14 billion dollars to a net loss of 8.22 billion dollars, directly impacted by mark-to-market impairments. Although these accounting impairments do not immediately result in direct cash outflows as a default would, they illustrate the company’s balance sheet vulnerability to prolonged spot market fluctuations.
To synthesize the overall financial situation of the firm at this stage, the key accounting elements of this exercise revolve around the following metrics :
The fundamental explanation for this sales program lies in the very structure of the company’s capital and the spectacular rise of its commitments to its preferred investors. To finance its massive bitcoin purchases in recent years, the firm issued significant quantities of variable-rate preferred shares, notably the STRC securities, generating substantial recurring financial charges.
CryptoQuant analysts now estimate the annual obligations for preferred dividends at nearly 1.2 billion dollars, an amount that has almost quadrupled with successive share issuances. This increase has dramatically reduced the company’s financial safety level. Its dividend coverage by available cash has fallen from more than seven years to only fourteen months at the current pace.
To rebuild a sufficient cash reserve for 24 months, Michael Saylor’s firm should have 2.8 billion dollars in reserves, nearly twice its current liquid cash balance. It is precisely to meet this liquidity constraint, pay these dividends, and proceed with the direct buyback of STRC preferred shares that the proceeds from the last sale of 108.6 million dollars were allocated.
This financial arbitrage choice is also driven by the company’s stock behavior on the markets. The share having dropped nearly 40% this year to trade in a range between 90 and 95 dollars, its market value settled below a net asset value (NAV) multiple of less than 1. In such a discount configuration, issuing new common shares to raise liquid funds would be highly dilutive and disadvantageous for current shareholders.
With the board having authorized an overall sales program that could reach up to 1.25 billion dollars in bitcoins, management has significant legal leeway to continue these operations if market conditions require. This strategy shows that current sales do not stem from an immediate banking emergency but from a deliberate arbitrage aiming to balance the cost of capital in equity markets and the value of the bitcoin reserve.
Secure your cryptos with LedgerThis link uses an affiliate program.Looking ahead, this situation highlights Strategy’s delicate transition to a hybrid asset management model where crypto treasury must constantly coexist with the constraints of a publicly traded balance sheet.
While market operators largely anticipate the continuation of this arbitrage program given the still available authorized envelope of 1.25 billion dollars, the company’s ability to preserve the integrity of its treasury will depend on the medium-term price evolution of the asset.
If a sustained rise of the bitcoin price above the average price of 75,400 dollars would allow erasing unrealized losses and facilitate less dilutive capital raises, prolonged stagnation will force the firm to maintain this cautious course. The institutional ecosystem thus attentively watches this textbook case, where classical financial engineering now sets the pace for managing the largest corporate bitcoin reserve in the world.
