Strategy Outlines ‘Mathematical’ Triggers for Selling Bitcoin
Strategy CEO Phong Le has publicly defined the precise financial conditions that would force the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder to liquidate portions of its treasury. In a defining interview on the What Bitcoin Did podcast, Le clarified that selling Bitcoin would be considered a “last resort” only if the company’s stock trades below its net asset value (NAV) and access to capital markets evaporates.
The ‘Mathematical’ Case for Selling
For years, Strategy has operated under a mandate of indefinite accumulation, funding purchases by issuing equity at a premium to its underlying assets. Le explained that this model relies on the company’s “multiple to NAV” (mNAV) remaining above 1.0.
“If our mNAV slips under one and financing options dry up,” Le stated, unloading Bitcoin becomes “mathematically” justified to protect the company’s core performance metric: Bitcoin yield per share.
Le emphasized that this is not a strategic pivot but a defensive contingency. “I would not want to be the company that sells Bitcoin,” he noted, stressing that financial discipline must supersede ideology if the market turns hostile. In a scenario where the stock trades at a discount to its Bitcoin holdings, issuing new shares would be dilutive to existing investors. Selling the asset to fund operations or debt service would, conversely, preserve shareholder value.
Dividend Pressure and the $800M Reality
The disclosure arrives as institutional scrutiny mounts over Strategy’s growing fixed-income liabilities. Following a year of aggressive capital raising via preferred stock issuances, Le estimates the company’s annual dividend obligations will approach $750 million to $800 million as recent notes season.
The company’s primary mechanism for funding these payouts is issuing equity at a premium. “The more we pay the dividends out of all of our instruments every quarter, that’s seasoning the market to realize that even in a bear market, we’re going to pay these dividends,” Le argued.
Defending the Balance Sheet
To combat investor anxiety regarding these obligations, Strategy recently launched a “BTC Credit” dashboard. The tool aims to demonstrate the resilience of the company’s balance sheet, projecting that dividend coverage remains robust for decades, even under flat price conditions. According to the dashboard, Strategy’s debt remains covered even if Bitcoin retraces to its average purchase price of roughly $74,000, with manageability sustained even in a catastrophic drop to $25,000.
Strategic Outlook
Le’s comments introduce a calculated “floor” to the company’s “HODL” strategy, signaling to Wall Street that Strategy is a rational financial operator rather than an ideological vault. The primary risk for investors now shifts to the mNAV ratio; if the premium collapses due to external factors—such as potential exclusion from major indices like the MSCI—the company may be forced to execute this “last resort” mechanism, transforming from a net buyer to a net seller and potentially altering global Bitcoin liquidity dynamics.
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