Phong Le, CEO of Strategy—one of the world’s largest institutional Bitcoin holders—announced a fundamental shift in the company’s Bitcoin management approach during a CNBC interview and a subsequent Q1 earnings call. The firm now embraces an active management model, moving away from the previous “never sell” stance to potentially use its BTC reserves for liquidity and dividend payments.
Le emphasized that the decision is rooted in mathematical optimization, not ideology. “If selling Bitcoin becomes a more profitable option than issuing new shares to pay dividends to our shareholders, we will do it,” he stated, framing the move as a way to maximize the amount of Bitcoin per share and protect existing shareholder value. The company would consider sales only after evaluating book value versus market price and tax advantages.
Strategy’s preferred stock, “Stretch,” pays a monthly return of 11.5%, creating an annual dividend obligation of $1.5 billion. Le reassured investors that the firm holds approximately $60 billion in Bitcoin reserves and has the capacity to cover 18 months of dividends at current levels. He also dismissed concerns about market impact, noting that with Bitcoin’s daily trading volume exceeding $60 billion, Strategy’s entire yearly dividend amount represents only a few basis points of that liquidity, thus not manipulating the price.
Executive Chairman Michael Saylor added that small-scale Bitcoin sales could “inoculate” the market and demonstrate additional financial flexibility. The company expanded its holdings to 818,334 BTC despite reporting a quarterly loss, and Le indicated no plans to spin off the software business, which grew 11% to $500 million in Q1 revenue. Meanwhile, selective BTC sales could unlock nearly $2.2 billion in future tax savings.
