Strategy sold 1,638 Bitcoin for roughly $104.7 million this week and used $81.2 million of the proceeds to buy back 912,143 shares of its preferred stock, STRC. The move comes as the company — the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin — reported an $8.22 billion loss for the second quarter of 2026 and has gone six weeks without adding any new BTC to its treasury.
The trade: selling Bitcoin to buy stock
Strategy disclosed the sale and buyback in a filing. The company sold a relatively small slice of its holdings — about 0.2% of its total 842,138 Bitcoin — and used most of the cash to repurchase its own preferred shares. The stock buyback signals that management sees its own equity as undervalued, even as the company's common stock, MSTR, has lost nearly 40% of its value year-to-date and sits about 80% below its record close of roughly $474 in November 2024.
A brutal quarter for Strategy
The second quarter was ugly. Strategy posted an $8.22 billion loss, driven largely by impairment charges on its massive Bitcoin holdings. The company's Bitcoin stash is currently worth $53.8 billion, but the paper losses are enormous given the bear market. CEO Phong Le acknowledged the pain on CNBC, saying the company will get through the cycle and will continue to sell Bitcoin when needed to manage its capital structure. He attributed the current Bitcoin bear cycle partly to external macroeconomic factors — a nod to rising interest rates and regulatory uncertainty that have weighed on risk assets globally.
CEO Le's defense
Le pushed back on criticism of the sale. He described Strategy as 'the J.P. Morgan of the crypto economy' and dismissed the sale of 1,000 Bitcoin out of 840,000 as irrelevant. The company's paper loss, he said, is not important for now. He expects the stock to soar again next year. That's a bold call for a stock that has lost four-fifths of its value from its peak, but Le is betting that a Bitcoin recovery will lift both the treasury and the share price.
Strategy hasn't bought any Bitcoin in the last six weeks — a notable pause for a company that was a relentless buyer during the bull market. Le said the company will sell more Bitcoin if it needs to, but the buyback suggests they see more value in their own stock right now than in adding to the crypto pile. The next quarterly report will show whether the selling continues or if Strategy returns to its accumulation strategy. For now, the market is watching to see if Le's confidence is justified — or if the losses deepen.
