Strategy sells $2 billion in MSTR shares, makes no bitcoin purchases, establishes $1.6 billion 'USD Cash' pool

Bitcoin treasury company Strategy sold approximately $2 billion worth of MSTR shares last week, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

The firm said it sold 18,261,118 MSTR shares between Aug. 17 and Aug. 23, but did not buy or sell any bitcoin during the period.

Some $136.4 million in net proceeds from the MSTR sales were used to fund repurchases of Strategy's STRC preferred stock, $300 million were used to increase its USD Reserve to $5.1 billion, and the remaining $1.59 billion were used to establish a new "USD Cash" liquidity account, per the filing.

"USD Cash is a separately designated pool of U.S. dollar liquidity that the Company may retain for future deployment for general Bitcoin Treasury Company purposes, which may include acquiring bitcoin, paying declared cash dividends on Strategy's preferred stock and interest on its outstanding indebtedness, repurchasing Strategy's MSTR Stock or preferred stock, repaying, repurchasing or redeeming Strategy's outstanding convertible notes, increasing the USD Reserve, and other similar Bitcoin Treasury Company purposes," the firm said.

Strategy's bitcoin holdings therefore remain at 840,447 BTC — worth around $65.8 billion — bought at an average price of $75,385 per bitcoin for a total cost of around $63.4 billion, including fees and expenses.

Strategy's holdings are still equivalent to around 4% of bitcoin's 21 million supply cap, and carry around $2.4 billion of paper profit at current prices, swinging from a paper loss after bitcoin recorded its largest-ever dollar gain last week, rising $14,264 to close at $77,387.

Matt Cole, CEO of fellow bitcoin treasury company Strive, said Sunday he has a "very strong" conviction that the bitcoin bear market is over, with BTC breaking out against both the dollar and gold. Cole said BTC/gold bottomed in February, roughly five months before bitcoin's dollar price bottomed in July.

Bitcoin traded flat on Monday immediately following the filing, per The Block's BTC price page, up around 1.2% in the past 24 hours at $78,161. MSTR shares are currently up 1.3% in pre-market trading, having climbed to their highest level in two months last week amid bitcoin's rally.

New Strategy

Strategy co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor has refrained from posting his usual Strategy bitcoin tracker chart update in recent weeks. Saylor's regular Sunday posts had historically been used to telegraph acquisition announcements ahead of time, but have become less common as the firm's strategy has varied, with its bitcoin holdings trimmed or held steady of late.

Under its new Digital Credit Capital Framework, Strategy restricted its USD reserve to preferred stock dividends and interest payments, and authorized a $1 billion repurchase program for its digital credit securities, initially prioritizing STRC. It also approved a $1 billion common stock buyback and later expanded its BTC Monetization Program to allow up to $5 billion in bitcoin sales to fund its reserve, dividends, interest payments, and securities repurchases under the framework.

Analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein said the U.S. Treasury's decision to increase buybacks of longer-dated debt helped trigger bitcoin's record rally last week, arguing that greater liquidity and lower long-term rates could further support the cryptocurrency.

"We are not macro experts, but we do know bitcoin historically has had a positive reaction to liquidity expansion," the analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote in a note to clients on Friday.

Strategy's balance sheet has also stabilized following a period of pressure, the analysts said, noting that Strategy sold only around 0.8% of its bitcoin holdings in recent weeks as it sought to bolster dividend cash reserves and support buybacks of its STRC preferred stock. Bernstein said Strategy's cash reserves now cover 2.8 years of dividends and expects the firm to resume bitcoin purchases as STRC moves back toward its $100 nominal value. STRC is currently trading for around $96.43.

According to Bitcoin Treasuries data, 197 public companies have adopted some form of bitcoin acquisition model. Tether-backed Twenty One, Metaplanet, MARA, and Adam Back and Cantor Fitzgerald-backed Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company make up the rest of the top 5, with 43,514 BTC, 43,000 BTC, 35,577 BTC, and 30,021 BTC, respectively.

However, the cohort's shares are down significantly from their 2025 peaks, as their market-cap-to-net-asset-value ratios sharply contracted. MSTR is still down around 74%, for example, with an enterprise mNAV of 1.00, according to the firm.

Strategy's common stock gained 6.1% last week, closing on Friday at $119.25, according to The Block's MSTR price page. Bitcoin rose nearly 25% during the same period.

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