Strategy is selling bitcoin again: STRC buyback and a new round of financial maneuvering
Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, has once again resorted to selling part of its bitcoin reserve. This week, the corporation sold 1,690 BTC worth $108.6 million, directing all proceeds to buy back its own preferred shares, STRC. This is already the second such deal in the last two weeks, signaling a fundamental shift in the company's approach to capital management.
After this operation, Strategy retains 840,447 BTC — the largest corporate holding of the leading cryptocurrency in the world. However, the notable fact is that the company is selling coins below its average cost basis, a forced measure to support STRC quotes, which have failed to hold at par value.
Deal details: price and mechanism
The sales were carried out between August 3 and August 9. The average sale price was $64,262 per coin. Information about the deal was disclosed in an 8-K form filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
All proceeds were used to repurchase 1,152,020 STRC preferred shares. Recall that STRC is a perpetual preferred security with a floating rate, issued to finance bitcoin investments. Its dividend is revised monthly and currently stands at 12% annually — an attempt to keep the price near the nominal $100.
The market, however, is not yet rushing to accept these terms. On Friday, STRC closed at $95.01, up 1.16%, but over the past year the security has fallen to a low of $71.25. In premarket trading on Monday, the share rose slightly to $95.55.
Strategy or tactics? Dollar reserve grows
In parallel, Strategy sold 6,585,682 common shares of MSTR through its at-the-market (ATM) program, raising $653.1 million. Of that, $650 million was directed to the dollar reserve, which now stands at $4.65 billion. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor described this week as a "credit operation," not a departure from bitcoin.
"Strategy increased its dollar reserve by $650 million and repurchased $109 million of STRC. This extended the duration of the USD reserve by 143 days — to 2.7 years — and reduced the bitcoin-backed STRC credit by 10 bps. As of August 9, 2026, we hold 840,447 BTC on the balance sheet and $4.65 billion in dollar reserves," Saylor stated.
Nearly all of the remaining quota for purchasing preferred shares has been used up in the buyback — only $785.2 million is now available. By comparison, the limit on issuing new MSTR shares remains virtually untouched: about $22 billion is still available.
Reasons and outlook
The current actions are directly tied to the Digital Credit Capital Framework plan approved in late June. It permits limited bitcoin sales to fund dividends on preferred shares, buybacks, and replenishing cash reserves when issuing new shares appears less advantageous.
Since the plan's launch, Strategy has paused bitcoin purchases and has been increasing cash reserves almost every week. The company claims the current reserve is sufficient to cover payments across its entire line of preferred securities for several years ahead.
The recovery measures have partially worked: STRC has recovered roughly 33% from its lows. However, even the 12% dividend and $109 million in buybacks have not yet pushed the price back to par.
On Monday, bitcoin traded around $65,019, up 1.5% over the day. At the same time, the market remains roughly 13% below Strategy's average purchase price.
My view: we are witnessing a fundamental transformation of Strategy from a passive holder into an active capital manager. Selling below cost is not panic but a necessary price for maintaining a complex financial structure. The question is how much investors are willing to tolerate such an actively managed "treasury" before demanding a return to the simple and clear accumulation strategy. The current pace of sales, if sustained, could add additional pressure to the market, but for now the volumes are too small to speak of a systemic effect.