Strategy& (MSTR), the world’s largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin, floated the idea of selling Bitcoin to meet its dividend obligations.
Executive Chairman Michael Saylor suggested, during its Q1 2026 earnings call, that the company could sell a portion of its Bitcoin holdings to fund the dividend payment, saying: “We’ll probably sell some Bitcoin to pay the dividend to inoculate the market and send the message that we did that.”
The company disclosed a net loss of $12.54 billion in the fourth quarter, while maintaining a total Bitcoin position of 818,334 BTC at an average acquisition cost of $75,537 per coin.
The Strategy has an outstanding dividend obligation of approximately $1.5 billion, consisting of annual preferred stock dividends and interest on outstanding debt. Based on its USD reserves relative to these obligations, the firm has approximately 18 months of dividend coverage.
Saylor described the model as allowing one to leverage credit to acquire Bitcoin, watch it appreciate, and then selectively sell parts of the asset to meet dividend commitments.
“You buy Bitcoin with credit, you let it appreciate, and then you sell the Bitcoin to pay dividends.
Following the announcement, the strategy’s stock fell more than 4% in after-hours trading, while Bitcoin fell below $81,000.