# Strategy Sells 1,638 Bitcoin to Finish a $4 Billion Cash Reserve for Preferred Dividends

The company's 2026 disposals now total 5,258 BTC, and $81.2 million of the proceeds went to buying back its STRC preferred shares at less than face value.

- Published: 2026-08-04T05:32:35.401Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/crypto/2026-08-04/strategy-sells-1-638-bitcoin-to-finish-a-4-billion-cash-rese
- Publisher: Polylog (Crypto desk)
- Section: crypto
- Sources: [CryptoSlate](https://cryptoslate.com/strategy-sells-395-million-in-bitcoin-and-mstr-stock-to-buyback-81-million-in-strc-and-build-cash-reserve-to-4-billion/), [Bitcoin Magazine](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/strategy-to-get-through-bitcoin-bear-market), [Polylog editors](https://polylog.news)

Strategy sold 1,638 BTC for $104.7 million between 27 July and 2 August at an average of about $63,957 per coin, and it issued roughly 3.01 million common shares for a further $290.6 million. [CryptoSlate reports the combined $395 million funded an $81.2 million repurchase of 912,143 STRC preferred shares and lifted the company's dollar reserve to $4 billion](https://cryptoslate.com/strategy-sells-395-million-in-bitcoin-and-mstr-stock-to-buyback-81-million-in-strc-and-build-cash-reserve-to-4-billion/), enough to cover about 27 months of preferred dividends and debt interest. Holdings now stand at [842,138 BTC](https://t.me/BWEnews/16372).

By CryptoSlate's count, the sale takes 2026 disposals to 5,258 BTC, the largest volume the company has sold in any year since it began buying in 2020. [A French-language digest of the filing recorded the same transaction](https://t.me/GokuCryptoNews/20278), noting that $52.4 million of the proceeds went to dividend payments.

Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor presents this as temporary. [Bitcoin Magazine quotes the company's leadership saying it will get through the bear market](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/strategy-to-get-through-bitcoin-bear-market), and the reserve build is described as prudence rather than retreat. The mechanics are plainer than the description. A vehicle whose entire premise was permanent accumulation is now selling the asset and issuing equity to service the fixed claims that rank ahead of its common stock, and it is buying its own preferred back because that preferred trades below par.

This is the test the model was always going to face. Accumulation funded by debt and preferred stock works while the equity trades at a premium to net asset value and the coin appreciates. When both conditions weaken at once, the dividend obligation is still due in dollars, and the only two sources of dollars are share issuance into a falling stock and coin sales.

## What this means

Strategy has become a marginal seller of bitcoin rather than a marginal buyer, and a fixed dollar obligation drove the switch, not a view on price. Holders of the preferred securities gain, because a 27-month coverage buffer reduces near-term default risk. Common shareholders pay for it through dilution, and the wider bitcoin market absorbs supply from the largest corporate holder. Other treasury vehicles with similar funding structures now face the same arithmetic in public view.

## What to watch

- Whether STRC trades back up to par, which would show the buybacks are working, or stays below it, which would mean more coin sales are needed.
- The pace of common-share issuance relative to the stock price, since issuing into weakness is how the dilution cost compounds.
- Whether other listed bitcoin treasury companies begin disclosing dollar reserves and dividend-coverage horizons, which would signal the financing strain is sector-wide rather than company-specific.