Strategy CEO Defends Selling Bitcoin at $60K Before Buying Again Near $80K

Highlights:

• Strategy CEO Phong Le says Bitcoin sales and later purchases reflected changing financing conditions, not market timing.
• Le says Strategy strengthened its balance sheet, cut net debt to zero, and rebuilt dollar reserves.
• Strategy remains a net Bitcoin accumulator but says it may sell BTC when capital management requires.

Strategy CEO Phong Le has defended the company’s decision to sell Bitcoin around the $60,000 to $65,000 range before returning to the market at roughly $80,000. He said the two moves may look unusual based on price alone, but Strategy made each decision under different financial conditions.

Speaking in a Bloomberg Crypto interview on September 1, Le said Strategy does not make its Bitcoin decisions simply by looking at whether BTC is cheap or expensive. Instead, the company focuses on its cost of capital and the strength of its balance sheet. Over the past two months, Strategy used its pause in Bitcoin purchases to strengthen its balance sheet.

Le said the company now holds about $72 billion in total assets, including $65 billion in Bitcoin and around $7 billion in U.S. dollar reserves. During the same period, Strategy also cut its net debt from roughly $7 billion to zero.

I joined Bloomberg @crypto to discuss Strategy's return to buying Bitcoin, building a fortress balance sheet, MSCI’s index proposal, and equity market demand for Bitcoin. $MSTR

00:24 – Back to buying bitcoin:native and why the decision was not price-driven
00:43 – Fortress… pic.twitter.com/YoO8U5FIvf

— Phong Le (@phongle) September 1, 2026

Strategy Says Bitcoin Sale Was the Right Move at the Time

When asked whether he regretted selling Bitcoin near $60,000, Le rejected the idea. “No. Not at all,” he said, explaining that selling Bitcoin was the right decision at the time because Strategy needed funds for some of its preferred dividends. He added that the situation has now changed, which makes it more attractive for the company to sell MSTR shares at a premium and use the proceeds to buy Bitcoin.

Le said Strategy bases such decisions on the cost of capital, rather than Bitcoin’s market price. In other words, the company looks at how cheaply it can raise money and what return it expects from deploying that capital. The stronger balance sheet has improved Strategy’s equity position, according to Le. That has made issuing MSTR shares to finance additional Bitcoin purchases more financially attractive than it was several months ago.

Strategy Calls BTC Approach a “Two-Way Strategy”

Le also made clear that Strategy is no longer presenting its Bitcoin strategy as strictly one-way. “It’s a two way strategy,” he said. During the recent pause, Strategy sold about 7,000 Bitcoin to help fund preferred dividends. Le described that amount as less than 1% of the company’s Bitcoin holdings and argued that Strategy remains a major net accumulator despite those sales.

He said a company holding BTC as its main balance-sheet asset should be able to both buy and sell when financial conditions support either move. Strategy also wants similar flexibility across its equity and preferred securities. Still, Le does not expect another major Bitcoin sale soon. “I don’t foresee us selling Bitcoin as we enter into what I consider a pretty heavy bull market,” he said.

Le added that Strategy could continue buying even as Bitcoin moves higher. He said the company may purchase BTC at $90,000, $100,000 and even $130,000 if its capital-management calculations continue to support those purchases.

At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $77,519, down 1.32% over the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency remains about 38.55% below its all-time high of $126,198, reached on October 6.