Key Takeaways:
Strategy sold 1,690 Bitcoin for $108.6 million at $64,262 per coin, a second straight week of disposals below its $75,385 cost basis.
Peter Schiff, a longtime Bitcoin critic, said on X that the sale shows Saylor has "given up on the idea of digital credit," arguing lenders lack confidence in Bitcoin as collateral.
The proceeds funded the repurchase of 1,152,020 STRC preferred shares under Strategy's $1 billion Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program, leaving $785.2 million available. Separately, the company sold 6.59 million MSTR shares for $653.1 million, routing $650 million into its dollar reserve, which now stands at $4.65 billion.
The disposals pushed Riot Platforms down 6% to $19.36, MARA Holdings down 6% to $9.52, and CleanSpark down 5% to $11.69 in Monday trading, while Bitcoin slipped 2% to $63,867.58. Prediction markets assign a 39% probability that Strategy announces additional Bitcoin sales in the Aug. 11-17 window.
The sale extends a capital-management pivot Saylor began in late May, breaking the firm's long-running "never sell" stance. Strategy reported a Q2 2026 net loss of $8.22 billion on an $8.32 billion unrealized loss on digital assets and lifted the STRC preferred dividend to 12% annualized. The board has authorized up to $1.25 billion of Bitcoin sales to fund the dollar reserve.
Strategy now holds 840,447 Bitcoin for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $63.36 billion, the company said in its regulatory filing. Management hasn't added to the treasury since June.
Bitcoin's slide to $63,867.58 layers additional pressure onto the mining group. Bitcoin is down 27% year to date and down 46% over the past year. That backdrop has forced large public miners to reassess capital allocation, with Riot Platforms, MARA Holdings, and CleanSpark all announcing multi-year data center and AI infrastructure leases in recent quarters.
Bit Digital shares fell 5% to $1.31, while the CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF dropped 5% to $45.87. The fund's sector-concentration profile leaves it highly sensitive to Bitcoin's price and to Strategy's disclosures. WGMI shares remain up 84% over the trailing year.
MSTR stock fell 3% to $96.95 in midday trading, down more than 38% so far in 2026. STRC closed Friday at $95.01, up 1.16%, after sinking as low as $71.25 within the past year.
Saylor framed the week as a credit exercise rather than a retreat from Bitcoin. "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," he wrote on X.
Institutional TMT research analyst Nicholas Mugalli said on X that "selling BTC below its average cost basis to buy back $STRC preferred shares breaks the sacred 'never sell' thesis." He added that MSTR "is no longer just a levered Bitcoin proxy—it's an active credit engine where common equity dilution and selective BTC sales are the mandatory price paid to keep the capital structure afloat."
Traders can watch whether Bitcoin holds current levels into the U.S. close and whether Strategy files further 8-Ks disclosing additional Bitcoin or share sales this week. Any follow-up commentary from Riot Platforms, MARA Holdings, or CleanSpark on their AI and high-performance computing pivots could also shift the narrative.
The miner complex remains fragile so long as Strategy's balance-sheet actions drive the crypto-equity conversation. Investors sizing exposure to the pure-play names may want to keep position sizes measured until Bitcoin stabilizes.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
