Strategy Sells 1,690 Bitcoin Below Cost to Fund $108.6M STRC Buyback

The World’s Largest Corporate Holder Is Now a Seller

For five years, Strategy had one move: buy Bitcoin, then buy more. That script has flipped. The company disclosed it sold 1,690 BTC in the week ending August 9, its fourth sale of 2026, and used the proceeds to repurchase its own preferred stock rather than add to its holdings.

The sale lands at a sensitive moment. The Bitcoin price is trading near $64,000, well under Strategy’s average purchase price, meaning the company is now crystallizing losses on coins it once vowed never to sell.

Inside the Sale: 1,690 BTC at $64,262 Each

According to figures reported by Cointelegraph, Strategy sold 1,690 BTC between August 3 and August 9 at an average net price of $64,262 per coin, raising $108.6 million. Its remaining stack stands at 840,447 BTC, acquired for an aggregate $63.36 billion at an average cost of $75,385 per coin.

That gap matters. Selling at $64,262 against a $75,385 cost basis locks in a loss of roughly $11,000 per coin on this batch. The company also raised $653.1 million through the sale of its common stock over the same period, with $650 million of that routed to its cash pile.

The move follows a 1,638 BTC sale the previous week that raised $104.73 million. Across 2026, Strategy has now disclosed sales totaling 6,948 BTC.

What Preferred Stock Buybacks Actually Do

STRC is a preferred stock, a class of shares that works less like normal stock and more like an IOU with a dividend attached. Holders receive regular payments, and the shares have a stated value of $100, known as par value. When investors lose confidence, the market price can fall below that level, which raises the effective yield the company must offer and makes future fundraising more expensive.

That is what happened in June, when STRC dropped well below its $100 stated amount, as Bitcoin Magazine reported. By buying back 1,152,020 STRC shares on the open market, Strategy reduces the number of dividend checks it must write and signals it will defend the security’s price. Around $785.2 million remains available under the repurchase program.

A $4.65 Billion Dollar Reserve Signals a Defensive Turn

Strategy’s US dollar reserve reached $4.65 billion as of August 9, up roughly $650 million in a week. The company also extended the duration of that reserve by 143 days to 2.7 years, meaning it now holds enough cash to cover its obligations for longer without touching its Bitcoin.

For a firm that once treated cash as a melting ice cube, the pivot is striking. Strategy has not purchased any Bitcoin since June, and its capital is currently flowing toward dividends, buybacks, and the cash buffer rather than toward new coins.

Four Sales in 2026 as MSTR Trades 80% Below Its Highs

The pressure is visible in the equity. MSTR shares are down nearly 80% from their all-time high, a far deeper slide than Bitcoin’s decline from its October record, eroding the premium that once allowed the company to issue stock and buy coins accretively.

The contrast with the wider market is notable. Spot funds just recorded their strongest week since April, with $1.1 billion flowing into Bitcoin and Ether ETFs even as Strategy sold. Institutional demand has not disappeared. It is simply arriving through funds rather than through leveraged corporate treasuries, a shift traders can track alongside crypto market prices in real time.

Could Strategy Return to Buying Bitcoin?

Chief executive Phong Le has said the company’s long-term stance on Bitcoin has not changed and that Strategy intends to remain a long-term buyer despite recent sales. A recovery in STRC toward its $100 par value could ease the strain on the company’s capital structure and reopen the door to purchases, though no timeline has been given.

Much may also depend on the market itself. If Bitcoin reclaims levels above Strategy’s cost basis, the company’s balance sheet stress could fade quickly. If prices stay depressed, further sales from the 840,447 BTC treasury cannot be ruled out, an overhang that traders will watch closely.

A Stress Test for the Bitcoin Treasury Model

Strategy built the corporate Bitcoin treasury playbook, and dozens of companies copied it. This episode is the first sustained test of what happens when the flywheel runs in reverse: a falling stock price, preferred shares under par, and coins sold below cost to defend the structure.

The lesson is not that the model failed. Strategy still holds more Bitcoin than any other company on earth, and its cash reserve now looks more durable than at any point in its history. But the era of automatic weekly purchases appears to be over for now, and the market is learning that even the most committed holder has a price at which it sells. How Strategy manages the next few months could shape whether treasury companies remain a pillar of demand or become a new source of supply.