Strategy’s executive chairman Michael Saylor has defended the company’s first reported Bitcoin sale since 2022, arguing that the ability to sell BTC—at least when it’s required to back certain financial obligations—is a prerequisite for the firm to keep issuing “digital credit.”
The defense comes after Strategy disclosed the sale in a June 1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: the company offloaded 32 BTC, a move that contrasted with Saylor’s widely repeated “never sell your Bitcoin” message. Speaking at BTC Prague, Saylor framed the decision as part of a broader credit thesis for Bitcoin-based financial products.
Key takeaways
- Strategy disclosed a June 1 SEC filing showing it sold 32 BTC for the first time since 2022.
- Saylor says Bitcoin must remain sellable so digital credit products can retain value and support dividend- and credit-linked obligations.
- He described Strategy’s STRC preferred stock as a “digital credit” instrument designed to route value from its Bitcoin balance sheet.
- Saylor claims digital credit could support yield-bearing crypto financial products and cited yields up to 8% for such structures.
- Apyx’s apxUSD stablecoin depegged amid BTC and STRC declines, illustrating how collateral volatility can test these systems.
Why Strategy chose to sell Bitcoin
In a June 1 SEC filing, Strategy disclosed its first reported Bitcoin sale since 2022, selling 32 BTC. The transaction stood in tension with Saylor’s long-running public stance that Bitcoin should not be sold.
In an interview with Cointelegraph at BTC Prague, Saylor argued that companies building Bitcoin-backed finance cannot treat BTC as untouchable capital. Instead, they need the flexibility to sell holdings when necessary to maintain the economic basis of credit instruments—particularly those tied to dividends and other payouts.
“If the company's policy is that we won't sell the Bitcoin, then the credit won't have value and the equity won't have value,”
he said, adding:
“The company is in the business of selling digital credit. The credit is backed by capital. Bitcoin is capital.”
“Digital credit” as a new use for the Bitcoin balance sheet
Saylor expanded on the concept by positioning Strategy’s financial products as components of a credit market built on Bitcoin holdings. In his explanation, instruments such as Strategy’s STRC preferred stock function as “digital credit,” leveraging the company’s Bitcoin treasury to meet credit obligations.
Crucially, Saylor also tied this framework to Strategy’s capital strategy. For the company, these securities have become a key path to raise funding that can then be used to acquire additional Bitcoin. In other words, the sale—however limited—should be viewed less as abandoning a core Bitcoin conviction and more as enabling a loop intended to sustain issuance of Bitcoin-backed credit products.
Yield claims and the collateral test from apxUSD
Saylor described digital credit markets as an emerging “trillion-dollar opportunity” in finance, arguing they could enable yield-bearing digital money products. He also suggested that these structures may offer yields of up to 8%, which he said is multiple times higher than traditional savings accounts.
Part of his argument is that digital credit could change how participants think about credit and yield while drawing capital into the Bitcoin ecosystem. He pointed to projects operating within this model, including Saturn and Apyx, and emphasized that yield-bearing products built on top of digital credit can face real-world stress—sometimes quickly.
On June 4, Apyx Finance’s dividend-backed synthetic stablecoin apxUSD reportedly depegged, trading as low as $0.90. At the time, Bitcoin was trading below $63,000 and STRC shares had fallen below their $100 par value.
According to Apyx, the decline in STRC—apxUSD’s primary collateral asset—reduced the protocol’s reserve value. The company also pointed to falling Bitcoin prices, thinning liquidity, and derivative-driven market dynamics as contributing factors, citing a post on X from Apyx.
At the time of Cointelegraph’s reporting, apxUSD was trading around $0.96, still below its $1 peg, as tracked by CoinGecko.
What this exchange between “never sell” and sellability means
The core tension in the story is not merely reputational; it goes to how investors and counterparties should interpret Bitcoin as collateral. Saylor’s argument suggests that Bitcoin treasury companies must preserve the option to sell in order to keep credit instruments credible—particularly when those instruments depend on the value of collateral and the ability to cover obligations.
Meanwhile, the apxUSD episode underscores how sensitive these systems can be when collateral benchmarks move in tandem. When STRC falls below par and Bitcoin weakens, collateral values and liquidity conditions can deteriorate at the same time, putting pressure on mechanisms designed to maintain stablecoin pegs.
For readers watching the evolution of Bitcoin-based credit, the takeaway is practical: the “digital credit” thesis depends on collateral behavior and on whether protocols can manage volatility in a way that sustains promised yield and payout structures without breaking pegs.
With Strategy’s disclosed sale and apxUSD’s depeg both tied to a period of BTC and collateral weakness, the next question for the market is whether future issuances, liquidity provisions, and collateral management techniques will reduce the frequency and severity of these stress events—or whether such drawdowns will continue to be part of the risk profile of yield-bearing Bitcoin credit products.
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