[Digital Today reporter Jinju Hong] Strategy’s CEO explained the background to the sale of 1,638 bitcoin (BTC) as “capital structure management to respond to a bear market.” He drew a line under concerns raised by some investors about a “retreat from the bitcoin holding strategy,” stressing that the long-term stance of accumulating bitcoin remains unchanged.

On Aug. 3 (local time), blockchain outlet Bitcoin Magazine reported that Strategy CEO Phong Le (퐁 레) said in a CNBC interview, “Bitcoin is currently going through a bearish cycle, and the macroeconomic environment is partly influencing the backdrop.”

He said the bitcoin sale was part of capital management, not a strategy change. Strategy recently sold 1,638 bitcoin for about $104.7 million while buying about 912,143 shares of STRC preferred stock for about $81.2 million. Phong Le said, “We experienced a similar market environment in 2022,” adding that the company would continue to actively manage its capital structure and, as needed, reallocate funds into bitcoin or sell some, as it did then. He added, “This bear market, too, will eventually be overcome.”

The move comes as results and the share price have recently been weak. Strategy shares are down about 40 percent so far this year and are about 80 percent below the record closing high of about $474 set in November 2024. The company posted a loss of $8.22 billion in its recently announced results for the second quarter of 2026.

Even so, Strategy says it is maintaining the bitcoin-centric strategy itself. The company began buying bitcoin in August 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to hedge inflation and enhance shareholder value, and it is the world’s largest corporate holder of bitcoin, with 842,138 BTC. The value of its holdings totals about $53.8 billion.

The market is also paying attention to the fact that Strategy’s aggressive buying has recently cooled. The company added bitcoin every week for a period, but there have been no new purchases in the past 6 weeks. Some interpret the partial sale in this context as a move to secure liquidity and reallocate capital rather than a withdrawal of its bitcoin investment stance.

Phong Le also stressed that the scale of the sale is limited compared with total holdings. “We are the JP Morgan of the crypto economy,” he said. “With more than 840,000 bitcoin on hand, selling about 1,000 is not an essential issue.” He added, “What matters is what role the company is playing in the bitcoin ecosystem and whether it is creating shareholder value by increasing bitcoin holdings per share over the long term,” stressing that “the answer to that is clearly ‘yes.’”

Still, the market is focused on the next steps. Key variables include whether Strategy will return to a net bitcoin buying stance even in a bear market and whether its equity-based bitcoin investment strategy can maintain investor trust amid weak results and a falling share price. This sale is seen as an adjustment in the way capital is managed rather than a withdrawal of the holding strategy, but the market will continue to watch closely for when additional bitcoin purchases resume.