Strategy sold 1,690 bitcoin for $108.6 million this week and used the proceeds to repurchase 1,152,020 shares of its STRC preferred stock for roughly $109 million — the company’s first bitcoin sale since June, and its latest move to defend the preferred stock’s sagging price rather than simply stockpile more BTC.
The sale trims Strategy’s total holdings from 842,138 BTC to 840,447 BTC, a marginal reduction against a treasury built from more than $63.5 billion in cumulative bitcoin purchases since the company began buying in August 2020, and still by far the largest corporate bitcoin position in the world. Alongside the sale, Strategy’s USD reserve grew by $650 million to $4.65 billion, and the duration of that cash cushion was extended by 143 days to 2.7 years.
STRC's discount forces a new playbook
The buyback is aimed squarely at STRC, Strategy’s variable-rate perpetual preferred stock, which has been trading below its $100 par value for months. Under the instrument’s terms, its dividend rate automatically rises by 0.5% whenever the stock trades below $95 — an increase that, once triggered, cannot be reversed — pushing Strategy to reset the rate monthly and buy back shares to nudge the price back toward par. The persistent discount has already forced the company to pause new STRC issuance through its at-the-market program, cutting off one of the funding channels it had used to keep adding to its bitcoin stack.
Strategy increased its USD Reserve by $650M and repurchased $109M of $STRC. This increased USD Duration by 143 days to 2.7 yrs and tightened STRC's BTC Credit by 10 bps. As of 8/9/26, we hold ₿840,447 in our BTC Reserve and $4.65B in our USD Reserve. $MSTR…
— Michael Saylor (@saylor) August 10, 2026
Related: Empery Digital's Usable Bitcoin Reserve Shrinks 76% in Five Weeks
CEO Phong Le framed the sale as a liquidity move rather than a change in strategy, saying the company “isn’t worried about the current bear market” and remains committed to being “a long-term buyer of bitcoin.”
A rough year for MSTR
The moves come as Strategy’s common stock trades roughly 80% below the all-time high it hit last year, even as bitcoin itself remains about 50% under its own October record — a gap that has intensified scrutiny of Strategy’s leveraged, bitcoin-backed balance sheet. According to CoinDesk’s review of the company’s recent filings, Strategy’s bitcoin sales have accelerated through the year, climbing from just 32 BTC in May to 3,588 BTC in early July for roughly $216 million, before this week’s 1,690 BTC sale — a clear shift from the company’s earlier “never sell” posture toward actively managing its bitcoin reserve to service its preferred stock obligations.
