Saylor defends BTC potential sales, and Strategy (MSTR), buys another $43 million in Bitcoin

Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) purchased The company revealed Monday that it had purchased 535 bitcoins for $43,0 million, at an average cost of $81,340 each coin. Now, the firm holds 818.869 BTC that were acquired at a cost of $75,540 on average, for approximately $61.86 billion. The bitcoin yield in 2026 is 9.4%.

It was funded with $1.0 million of the STRC ATM ATM funding and $42.9 millions from MSTR ATM.

Michael Saylor has been the executive chairman for six days. told Investors were informed on Strategy’s first quarter earnings call that the company was ready to sell bitcoins. Markets that have long seen the accumulation strategy of Strategy as non-directional were immediately concerned by this announcement.

Saylor: Finish every year with more Bitcoin than you began

Saylor acted to control the narrative at the end of the weekend. He said in a podcast that the company will buy between 10 and 20 bitcoins for each one sold. “You should be a net accumulator of bitcoin,” He said. “You want to end every year with more bitcoin than you started.” This week’s purchases suggest that buying is not slowing down.

Financial pressure is the backdrop. Bitcoin fell 23% in Q1 2026 — from $87,500 to $67,700 — and under FASB fair value accounting rules adopted in January 2025, Strategy is required to mark its full bitcoin position to market each quarter. In the first quarter of 2026, that’s when bitcoin fell 23% — from $87,000 to $67,700. Strategy must mark up its entire position in each quarterly. produced The income statement shows a loss of $12.54 Billion. Over 434,000 coins of the company were bought above $80,000. This generated a $7.6 Billion unrealized loss, and $2.2 Billion deferred asset with a tax rate effective at 29%.

It is that deferred tax asset — not a change of heart — that explains Saylor’s openness to selling. This is the same decision was made before. Strategy, on Dec. 22nd 2022 sold 704 BTC for $16,776 each coin. Two days later it repurchased another 810 BTC in an effort to harvest tax losses and offset prior gains. It is a larger structure, but it still follows the same logic.

During the earnings call, CEO Phong Le revealed the framework for making decisions. “I believe in math over ideology,” Le said. “At the point where selling bitcoin versus selling equity to pay a dividend is better for our bitcoin-per-share, and for our common shareholders, we will do it.”

STRC perpetual preferred shares are owed $1.5 billion in annual dividends. This company has $8.2 billion of convertible debt. These two factors create cash needs that may be difficult to meet with equity issues alone.

Bitcoin per share — the ratio of total BTC holdings to diluted shares outstanding — remains the metric every financing decision runs through. JPMorgan analysts stated last week, if Strategy continues at its current rate, the total amount of bitcoins purchased in 2026 will reach $30 billion.

Strategy for bitcoins and software businesses

Software division of the company, which was long ignored, has gained attention. Le claimed that the Q1 of 2026 saw revenue rise 12%, its best quarter in 10 years. Strategist has developed an AI infrastructure layer. called “Mosaic” AI-based models are being used in the core of workflows to construct new ones. “I’m sometimes asked why a bitcoin treasury company should also operate a software business,” Le X. wrote on Sunday. “The two create powerful and unique synergies.”

MSTR closed Friday up 4.31% at $187.59. Stocks have gained 41.7% in the last month but are still down 18.9% for the six-month period. The stock was up about 1% on pre-market Monday. Bitcoins traded at about $81,000.

Saylor was in the Saylor neighborhood on Sunday night. posted Two words for X “Back to work. BTC.” Similar posts have been made by him before prior announcements of purchases. It was confirmed by the filing of Monday.