Michael Saylor defended Strategy after its rare sale of Bitcoin (BTC) drew criticism during a sharp market decline.
Key Points:
- Strategy sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31 for about $2.5 million.
- Bitcoin has fallen nearly 15% since the Jun. 1 disclosure, while MSTR stock has dropped 24%.
- Saylor said he never promised the company would never sell Bitcoin.
Saylor Bitcoin Sale
Saylor addressed the controversy at the BTC Prague conference, where he said his “never sell” message was directed at individual Bitcoin holders, not at Strategy as a public company.
“By the way, I said to you never sell your Bitcoin. I never said the company wouldn’t sell Bitcoin. And anybody who is listening to our earnings call or reading our disclosure or has half a brain knows, for the last five years, we’ve been very clear that of course we sell the Bitcoin if we have to,” he said.
Strategy disclosed on Jun. 1 that it sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31 for about $2.5 million. The company sold the coins at an average price of $77,135, above its stated acquisition cost of $75,699 per BTC.
The sale was Strategy’s first in years and unsettled parts of the market, even though Saylor had signaled in early May that a sale remained possible. Bitcoin has fallen nearly 15% since the disclosure, while MSTR stock has dropped 24%.
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Strategy Backlash
The criticism intensified after Jim Cramer wrote on X that “Saylor murdered Bitcoin.” Saylor blamed the sell-off on growing investor excitement around artificial intelligence stocks, rather than Strategy’s sale.
Arca rejected that view in a weekly investor note.
Chief Investment Officer Jeff Dorman wrote that the weakness was “clearly due to the Saylor/MSTR news,” despite what he called “gaslighting” from the firm and other Bitcoin bulls.
Strategy has continued buying despite the dispute. The company recently added 1,550 BTC for more than $100 million, lifting its total holdings to 845,256 BTC at an average purchase price of $75,680 per coin.
The latest sale also recalled Strategy’s previous Bitcoin disposal in Dec. 2022, when crypto markets were under pressure from rate hikes, the collapse of FTX and contagion across lenders and hedge funds.
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