MicroStrategy Sells $216M Bitcoin to Fund Dividends While Rivals Accumulate
What You Need to Know
- Strategy sold 3,588 BTC in late June to fund preferred share dividends, raising $216 million.
- Strategy reported $8.32 billion unrealized loss on digital assets in Q2 2024.
- Smaller treasury firms like American Bitcoin and Strive are buying Bitcoin while Strategy sells to cover dividends.
- Strategy’s $1.25 billion authorized Bitcoin sale program indicates structural, recurring dividend funding needs.
Strategy selling Bitcoin to cover preferred share dividends while smaller treasury firms buy the dip is a cleaner summary of the current corporate BTC dynamic than most coverage admits. The gap between what the largest holder is doing and what the newer entrants are doing is the actual story.
Michael Saylor confirmed in an SEC filing and on X that Strategy sold 3,588 BTC between June 29 and July 5 at average prices around $59,256 and $60,773 per coin, raising $216 million to fund dividends on its Digital Credit securities. The firm has a program allowing it to sell up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin for exactly this purpose, so the disposal is structural, not a sentiment signal. Strategy also reported an $8.32 billion loss on digital assets for the second quarter, driven by unrealized declines, and carried its Bitcoin at $49.67 billion as of June 30. Analysts who have questioned whether Saylor should restructure the firm’s yield products and reduce leverage now have a concrete data point: the treasury is large enough that dividend coverage requires selling hundreds of millions in BTC per quarter.
The irony is that the firms buying what Strategy sells are doing so on the premise that prices recover. That bet may be correct. It may also be the kind of crowded trade that looks obvious until it isn’t.
American Bitcoin, the Eric Trump-backed mining and treasury venture majority owned by Hut 8, added 500 BTC for over $30 million, lifting its holdings to 8,000 BTC worth roughly $495.7 million, ranking it 16th among public corporate holders. Strive, meanwhile, added 17.76 BTC last week to reach 19,882 BTC, after acquiring 6,236 BTC in the second quarter alone. What makes the comparison more textured is that not everyone in the corporate treasury cohort is buying uniformly: American Bitcoin completed a 1-for-15 reverse split on July 2 to stay above Nasdaq’s $1.00 minimum bid rule, and split-adjusted shares opened near $7.70 on July 6, reportedly about 91% below the company’s SPAC debut price. A treasury that has tripled in BTC terms while the stock has collapsed by that magnitude is a useful reminder that BTC accumulation and equity performance are not the same metric.
Public companies added close to 9,000 BTC in June according to BitcoinTreasuries.net, with Strategy’s 3,625-coin purchase being the single largest contribution before the subsequent sales, followed by Strive’s 3,364. The source article notes that investor funds are moving toward artificial intelligence at the same time these firms are doubling down on Bitcoin. That capital rotation is worth tracking not as a narrative but as a structural pressure: treasury firms competing for equity investor attention against AI plays face a harder pitch if Bitcoin’s price stays range-bound while Nvidia compounds.
Strive distributed its 20th consecutive dividend on July 6 at $0.0493 per SATA share, annualizing to $13 at an effective yield of 13.4%, which gives it a yield-generating wrapper that distinguishes it from pure accumulation vehicles. Whether that structure holds up if BTC prices decline further is the question its 19,882-coin position will eventually have to answer.
0 Comments