Bye-bye 'HODL' - Strategy now has a plan to sell bitcoin to raise cash and buy its stock

By Tomi Kilgore

Strategy sold more than $1 billion worth of common stock but didn't buy any bitcoin in the past week

Strategy disclosed a program to sell bitcoin "from time to time" to fund its U.S. dollar reserves and share repurchases.

In an apparent farewell to the "HODL" principle that had guided cryptocurrency investors, Strategy disclosed on Monday a bitcoin monetization program that could include selling the cryptocurrency to build up its U.S. dollar reserves, as well as fund repurchases of common stock.

The move by the company (MSTR), formerly known as MicroStrategy, comes as bitcoin has struggled over the past year to recapture the appeal of momentum traders, who have rotated to other hot areas of the market, such as artificial-intelligence plays and more recently to hot stocks like SpaceX. Bitcoin (BTCUSD), which traded last week at a near two-year low, was about 52% below its record high seen on Oct. 6, 2025, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Since the company adopted bitcoin as a primary treasury reserve asset six years ago, the company has been selling equity, mostly in the form of common stock, but also preferred stock, to buy bitcoin. On June 1, Strategy made a symbolic sale of bitcoin - the first sale in four years - which raised the question of the whether the "HODL" crypto principle - "Hold On for Deal Life - touted by Strategy Executive Chair Michael Saylor was being put to bed.

On Monday, Strategy said its board of directors has authorized a "BTC Monetization Program" which allows the company to sell bitcoin "from time to time."

Investors cheered the move. Strategy's stock surged 12.6% in recent afternoon trading toward after closing Friday at its lowest price since Feb. 26, 2024. The rally snapped an eight-session losing streak, which was the longest such streak since December 2022, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

The company said among the reasons to sell bitcoin would be to fund its U.S. dollar reserves, which it introduced in December, and to fund preferred stock dividends and interest expenses.

The company said it could also sell bitcoin to "additionally fund repurchases of Digital Credit Securities or Class A common stock" under repurchase programs that were just announced.

Strategy said plans to buy back $1 billion worth of Digital Credit Securities, which refers to its preferred stocks, and to repurchase $1 billion of common stock. The company said the programs don't have fixed expiration dates.

During the week to June 28, Strategy raised $1.15 billion through the sale of 12.7 million shares of common stock, it said. The company didn't add to its bitcoin holdings, which stood at 847,363 bitcoin, but it did disclose a boost to its U.S. dollar reserves to $2.55 billion from $1.4 billion the week before.

Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer said the upshot to Strategy's announcement of new programs is that the company is now "an active manager of both sides of its capital structure, an approach that we view as a significant positive for its shareholders."

Palmer is the most bullish of the 19 analysts surveyed by FactSet who cover Strategy's stock. His $570 price target implies 515% upside from Monday's closing price.

Separately, Strategy changed its dividend policy for its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC), and will start evaluating the dividend rate monthly based on factors including stock trading levels, volatility of bitcoin, dollar-reserve coverage and capital-market conditions.

On Monday, the company said it would raise the regular dividend rate per year on the "STRC" stock, with record dates on or after July 1, to 12% from 11.5%.

Strategy's stock has tumbled 39% in 2026, while bitcoin has shed about 31% and the S&P 500 index SPX has gained 8.7%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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06-29-26 1641ET