Strategy resumed its Bitcoin buys in the last week of August and paid USD 369.7 million for 4,603 Bitcoin. The purchase ends a roughly two-month selling phase, and holdings rise to 845,050 BTC.
Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, is originally a provider of business intelligence software. Today the group also runs the largest Bitcoin treasury of any listed company. Instead of classic cash reserves, the cryptocurrency serves as the primary balance sheet reserve. Since 2020 the firm has accumulated almost without interruption under Executive Chairman Michael Saylor. Ongoing share programmes fund the purchases. Between May and August 2026, however, it sold Bitcoin for the first time in company history. The cost basis of the position totals USD 63.73 billion, or USD 75,412 per Bitcoin. A single company therefore controls more than 4% of the maximum Bitcoin supply of 21 million units.
Strategy funds its Bitcoin buys through share sales
The 8-K filing with the US market regulator SEC covers the purchase week. Specifically, it shows an average price of USD 80,318 per Bitcoin. Generally, a company reports material events outside the quarterly cycle with such a filing. As a result, holdings rose from 840,447 to 845,050 BTC. The group had reported no purchases since June. The transaction thus falls into a phase of recovered prices. Notably, Strategy paid more than its historical cost basis of USD 75,412. That basis rises slightly through the purchase.
Strategy funded the whole purchase through its at-the-market programme. Through this instrument, the group places its own shares directly in the market, rather than via a classic capital increase. A fixed issue date and a bank syndicate consequently fall away. The issuer thus gains fast access to fresh equity. During the reporting week the company sold 4,531,421 MSTR shares and generated net proceeds of USD 602.8 million. Other funding sources, in contrast, played no part in this purchase.
Of that sum, USD 369.7 million went into the Bitcoin purchase, roughly 61% of the proceeds. Another USD 151.8 million flowed into buybacks of the STRC preferred share. Furthermore, the group spent USD 50.7 million on STRC dividends. The remaining USD 30 million went into the freely available USD cash position. The purchase is therefore only one part of a broader capital allocation. A growing share of the fresh equity moreover goes towards servicing the preferred shareholders.
STRC below par value forces Strategy into Bitcoin sales
STRC is a preferred share of Strategy with a par value of USD 100. Such securities pay a fixed distribution and rank above the common stock. At first the instrument served the company as a separate funding route for Bitcoin purchases. In June 2026, however, the price fell below par value. When such a security trades below par, every further issue becomes more expensive for the issuer. A key source of capital thus fell away. Payouts to STRC holders continued regardless.
The board responded at the end of June 2026 with the Digital Credit Capital Framework. This rulebook allows selective Bitcoin sales to cover dividends and buybacks of preferred shares. For the first time in company history, its own holdings served as a source of capital. Accordingly, the group parted with 6,948 BTC between May and August 2026. Proceeds came to around USD 432.5 million, on average a comparatively cheap USD 62,250 per Bitcoin.
The current repurchase turned out roughly 29% more expensive than the preceding sale. On a net basis, Strategy still holds 2,345 BTC fewer than before the selling phase began. Measured against total holdings, though, that gap amounts to less than 0.3%. Around USD 63 million of the price difference nevertheless stayed on the balance sheet as cash. The brief change of course therefore cost the company holdings, not liquidity. Its trigger was the slide in the preferred share, not a reassessment of the Bitcoin position.
Strategy keeps net leverage at zero despite the Bitcoin sales
The earmarked USD reserve for preferred dividends and interest payments stood at USD 5.10 billion at the end of August. In addition, the group held a freely available cash position of USD 1.61 billion. Together, both positions come to USD 6.71 billion. The company still puts net leverage at 0.0%. The metric sets debt against the available liquid funds. As a result, the balance sheet shows no net debt that could force sales in a falling market.
A considerable part of these funds flows at the same time into stabilising the preferred shares. During the reporting period Strategy bought back 1,557,177 STRC shares for USD 151.8 million. Of the authorisation over USD 1 billion, USD 364.8 million consequently remains. The group has already drawn around USD 635 million. The buyback volume of the reporting week likewise reaches the order of magnitude of the Bitcoin purchase.
A second, separate authorisation over USD 1 billion covers buybacks of MSTR common stock. So far the board has not touched that mandate. Such a buyback would reduce the number of outstanding MSTR shares instead of raising it through the ATM programme. The company is keeping the instrument in reserve.
Strategy holds more than four percent of all available Bitcoin
With 845,050 BTC, Strategy now controls more than 4% of all Bitcoin that will ever be available. The distance to its rivals is considerable. Twenty One, a treasury vehicle backed by Tether, holds 43,514 BTC. Metaplanet follows with around 43,000 BTC, while the miner MARA holds 35,577 BTC. At Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company around Adam Back and Cantor Fitzgerald, the figure stands at 30,021 BTC. Together these four holders still do not reach even a fifth of the Strategy position. Against the second-largest holder, the lead amounts to roughly nineteen times.
The timing of the return to buying follows chiefly from the price trend. Bitcoin recovered in the preceding weeks from a low around USD 63,000 to briefly more than USD 81,000. Overall, the largest cryptocurrency stands around 24% higher over the month. On a weekly view, the price barely moved. Bitcoin last traded around USD 78,000, which equals a market capitalisation of about USD 1.57 trillion.
Compared to the cost basis of USD 75,412, the position shows an unrealised book gain above USD 2 billion. The company does not report that figure itself. In the long run, future funding without Bitcoin sales depends on whether the preferred share climbs back above par.
