Strategy CEO Defends Bitcoin Purchases And Sales

Strategy’s MSTR CEO Phong Le is defending the company’s Bitcoin purchases and sales over the past few months.

Strategy has come under fire for selling nearly 7,000 Bitcoin at prices ranging from $60,000 U.S. to $65,000 U.S. and then buying the cryptocurrency again at $80,000 U.S.

Critics say Strategy’s moves are the opposite of the “buy low and sell high” maxim on Wall Street.

However, Le has defended the trades, saying they were driven by capital costs rather than the prevailing price of Bitcoin.

“It was the right trade at the time to sell Bitcoin to fund some of our Stretch dividends," Le said in a media interview.

Strategy paused its Bitcoin purchases for 10 weeks while it shored up its balance sheet and raised cash to fund dividend payments on its preferred stock STRC.

Le said it was the smart play for the company to reduce its net debt from $7 billion U.S. to zero and build a $7 billion U.S. in cash reserve.

Following its purchase last week of 4,603 BTC at an average price of $80,318 U.S., Strategy, led by Chairman Michael Saylor, owns a total of 845,050 Bitcoin worth $65 billion U.S.

Le stressed in the interview that Strategy remains a net accumulator of Bitcoin but has shifted to a “two-way strategy” that allows it to sell Bitcoin when needed to fund dividends.

Finally, Le said that Strategy is willing to buy Bitcoin at $100,000 U.S. or higher if the economics of the trade make sense.

Bitcoin is trading at $76,900 U.S. on Sept. 2.

MSTR stock has declined 64% over the last 12 months to trade at $123.47 U.S. per share.