Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor said the company may sell part of its Bitcoin holdings to fund dividend payments.
Summary
- Saylor said Strategy may sell Bitcoin to fund dividends after reporting a large first-quarter loss.
- Strategy holds 818,334 BTC, but preferred stock dividends are raising questions about future funding pressure.
- Recent Bitcoin gains remain central as investors watch whether MSTR can balance debt and dividends.
The comment marked a clear shift from his long-running message that Strategy would keep buying Bitcoin and avoid selling.
“We’ll probably sell some Bitcoin to fund a dividend, just to inoculate the market,” Saylor said during Strategy’s first-quarter earnings call. He said the move would show that “the company’s fine, the Bitcoin’s fine, the industry’s fine, the world didn’t come to an end.”
Strategy reports large Q1 loss
Strategy reported a first-quarter net loss of $12.54 billion, or $38.25 per common share. The company said the result was driven by the lower value of its Bitcoin holdings during the quarter.
The firm held 818,334 BTC as of May 3, 2026. That marked a 22% rise in its Bitcoin holdings since the start of the year. Strategy also reported a 9.4% BTC Yield and said it raised $11.68 billion year to date.
Moreover, Saylor did not present the possible Bitcoin sale as a forced action. He said Strategy may sell some Bitcoin to fund dividends and reduce market doubt around its ability to meet payments.
He added that investors would then see that the company can sell without creating panic. The statement came after years of public comments where Saylor defended a long-term Bitcoin accumulation strategy.
In February, Saylor said he expected Strategy to buy Bitcoin every quarter forever. He also said the company could handle a deep Bitcoin drawdown without selling its holdings.
STRC dividends draw more attention
Strategy has used preferred stock products, including STRC, to support its Bitcoin purchases. STRC pays a monthly dividend and has become a key part of the company’s credit strategy.
Earlier crypto.news coverage noted that Strategy paused Bitcoin purchases before its Q1 report as more attention turned to STRC’s dividend cost. The same report said Strategy last bought 3,273 BTC for about $255 million, bringing holdings to 818,334 BTC.
Market watchers have also questioned whether Strategy can sustain dividend payments if Bitcoin fails to rise fast enough. Strategy’s annual dividend and interest obligations are estimated at about $1.5 billion.
Bitcoin gain remains central to Strategy story
Saylor has continued to promote Strategy’s Bitcoin-based performance metrics. In a recent update, he said the company had generated 63,410 BTC in Bitcoin Gain since the start of 2026, worth about $5.1 billion at current prices.
That report also said Strategy’s holdings represent about 3.9% of Bitcoin’s fixed 21 million supply. Saylor has described Bitcoin Gain as close to net income under a Bitcoin-based reporting model.
