Strategy posts $8.32B Q2 bitcoin loss after selling $216M in BTC

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) has carried out its largest bitcoin sale in years, raising fresh questions about the corporate treasury playbook closely associated with executive chairman Michael Saylor. In a filing dated July 6, the company said it sold 3,588 bitcoin for about $216 million between June 29 and July 5. The sales were executed in two tranches: 1,363 bitcoin sold from June 29 to June 30 at an average price of $59,256, and 2,225 bitcoin sold from July 1 to July 5 at an average price of $60,773. Including a prior sale of 32 BTC, Strategy sold 3,620 BTC in the second quarter. The company still described itself as a net buyer over the period, reporting purchases of more than 85,000 BTC. The disposals are small relative to Strategy's remaining 843,775 bitcoin, but they represent a notable change for a firm long known for continuous accumulation and for treating bitcoin as a strategic reserve rather than a liquidity source. Strategy said it acquired its remaining bitcoin for about $63.69 billion, implying an average cost of $75,476 per coin, meaning the latest sales were below the company's average purchase price. Lookonchain estimated the sales crystallized losses of more than $55 million based on the difference between reported sale prices and historical acquisition costs. Strategy also disclosed a $8.32 billion second-quarter loss on its digital asset holdings after bitcoin's decline pushed the fair value of its holdings below cost. The company said that, as of June 30, 2026, the cost basis of its bitcoin exceeded fair value, and it would record a valuation allowance against the deferred tax benefit and deferred tax asset tied to the quarter's unrealized losses, offsetting those amounts in full. Proceeds earmarked for preferred dividends In the filing, Strategy said the proceeds from selling 3,588 bitcoin would be used to fund preferred stock distributions. Saylor said the sales covered Q2 dividends on STRF, STRE, STRK and STRD, as well as the full monthly June dividend on STRC. The company added that the sales would also replenish the portion of its U.S. dollar reserve used for those payments. That reserve stood at $2.55 billion as of July 5 and is intended to cover preferred dividends and interest on outstanding debt. The filing also indicated what Strategy did not do during the week ended July 5: it did not sell common shares through its at-the-market equity program, and it did not repurchase common or preferred shares. The company said its full $1.25 billion Bitcoin Monetization Program remains available. Under that framework, Strategy can sell bitcoin to rebuild its dollar reserve, pay preferred dividends, service debt and support repurchases of common or preferred stock. Some market watchers, including BTC.top founder Jiang Zhuoer, suggested more sales could follow, arguing the company may be preparing to trade around a large position and that the 20,000 coins previously approved by shareholders could be sold. A more complex investment case Strategy built its reputation by raising capital to buy bitcoin. The latest disclosure highlights the reverse dynamic: bitcoin sales can also be used to support the financing structure that helped fund past accumulation. That places the company's preferred stock stack closer to the center of the investment thesis. Preferred securities have reduced Strategy's reliance on common-share issuance, but they also introduce recurring cash obligations that rank ahead of common shareholders. The structure is easier to sustain when bitcoin is rising and Strategy's stock trades at a premium to the value of its holdings. When bitcoin falls and the stock weakens, management faces trade-offs between preserving liquidity, avoiding unattractive equity issuance and maintaining confidence among preferred holders. Bill Miller IV of Miller Value Partners offered a supportive view, saying the sale could be welcomed for potential tax-loss harvesting benefits and for demonstrating to ratings agencies that bitcoin is sufficiently liquid to support corporate liabilities. Saylor's long-term thesis meets a near-term test Despite the sale and the quarterly loss, Saylor has continued to argue that bitcoin's next decade will be shaped by deeper integration with global capital markets. He has framed bitcoin as "digital capital," with progress driven less by protocol changes or the four-year halving cycle and more by the expansion of surrounding financial infrastructure such as ETFs, corporate treasuries, bank credit, derivatives, collateral markets and sovereign reserves. That view helps explain Strategy's move toward building a broader capital-markets structure around its holdings, using preferred stock, debt and cash reserves to make bitcoin the base of what Saylor has called "digital credit." The latest sale underscores the operational reality of that approach: dividends, interest and reserves create cash demands. As Strategy seeks to turn bitcoin into a productive balance-sheet asset, the holdings can no longer function as a one-way vault; they may be tapped when the company's financing instruments require liquidity. The company's challenge now extends beyond persuading investors that bitcoin will rise over time. It must also demonstrate that a corporate financing model built around bitcoin can hold up when the asset falls.