Strategy chief executive Phong Le is defending the company's decision to sell a slice of its bitcoin stash in June, calling it the "right trade at the time" to shore up the balance sheet. The comments came as the firm, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, resumed purchases on Monday after a 10-week pause.
The 'right trade' defense
Le said the June sales were small and aimed at building two cash reserves, not a bet against bitcoin. He stressed that Strategy doesn't make decisions based on the token's price and described the company as a "net accumulator." Looking ahead, he doesn't foresee selling as the market enters what he expects to be a heavy bull run.
The company now holds 845,050 bitcoins, worth roughly $65.1 billion at current prices. Le framed the balance sheet as "bullet-proof" after the moves.
A 10-week pause, then a restart
Strategy halted buys in June and offloaded small amounts of bitcoin to build up cash. That pause ended Monday, when the company started buying again. The restart signals a return to the aggressive accumulation strategy that has defined the firm since it pivoted to bitcoin in 2020, back when it was still called MicroStrategy.
For investors, buying MSTR stock has become a proxy for bitcoin exposure. That trade hasn't been kind this year — shares were down 2% on Wednesday and off 22% year-to-date.
The balance sheet math
This year, Strategy also bought back some of its preferred stock, STRC, which was trading at a discount. That move increased the company's dollar cushion, giving it more room to maneuver.
The Q2 earnings report was ugly on paper: an $8.22 billion loss. Le waved that off, arguing the paper loss doesn't matter right now and predicting the stock will soar next year.
The J.P. Morgan line
Le went a step further in his defense, calling Strategy "the J.P. Morgan of the crypto economy." It's a bold comparison for a company that just posted a multi-billion-dollar loss and spent the summer selling bitcoin. But Le's point is about positioning — he wants Strategy seen as the institutional backbone of the space, not a trader flipping tokens for short-term gains.
The real test comes in the coming weeks. With buying resumed and a bull market on his mind, Le has made his stance clear: accumulate, hold, and don't look back. Whether the market rewards that patience is another question.
