‘Never Sell’ Was Advice for Individuals
Strategy Inc. (Nasdaq: MSTR) founder and chairman Michael Saylor told attendees at the BTC Prague conference on June 11 that his long-running “never sell your bitcoin” mantra was guidance for individual investors, not a corporate vow. He said he never said the company could not sell bitcoin, and that anyone who followed five years of earnings calls and disclosures should know Strategy would sell when necessary.
The clarification sought to settle a debate that erupted after the company did something it had never done before, i.e. part with some of its bitcoin.
Last month, Bitcoin.com News reported that Saylor signaled Strategy may sell bitcoin to fund dividends, breaking from its ‘never sell’ stance, and the firm disclosed in a June 1 filing that it sold 32 BTC for about $2.5 million. The sale equaled just 0.004% of holdings, but it landed hard because Strategy had become the market’s symbol of relentless accumulation.
Saylor later broke his silence to reassure investors that the move was routine treasury management, not a change of conviction. The proceeds were earmarked to help fund distributions on Strategy’s preferred stock, revealing just how the firm’s BTC accumulation roadmap is entangled with the obligations of its expanding capital structure.
Dilution and Debt in the Spotlight
The episode has revived a deeper argument over how Strategy is valued and financed. At a public exchange with Strike founder Jack Mallers, Saylor argued that mNAV is only one valuation framework, referring to market net asset value (mNAV), and said investors can instead weigh gross assets and net assets per share. He contended that issuing equity for cash strengthens rather than dilutes shareholders because they “receive a tangible asset in return, whether cash or bitcoin.”
The stakes are concrete as Strategy carries about $6.7 billion in convertible debt that sits out-of-the-money at a $115 share price, and the company recently built its U.S. dollar reserves to roughly $1 billion. Its bitcoin pile stands near 845,256 BTC at an average cost of around $75,540 per coin, making even small sales a closely watched signal.
Analysts largely agreed the 32- BTC sale itself was immaterial but split on what it signals about future behavior. The next flashpoint is whether Strategy taps its stack again to meet dividend and debt commitments, or leans on fresh equity and preferred issuance instead.
Saylor, for his part, remains publicly bullish, having recently framed bitcoin’s future around four competing ideologies and reiterated his long-term call for far higher prices. For holders who took the “never sell” commitment literally, BTC Prague was a stark reminder that the mantra was always for them, not for the balance sheet.
