For five years, Michael Saylor had one rule on Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC)—never sell. The rule built Strategy itself, his personal brand, and the entire reason shareholders bought the company’s MSTR stock. Then, on May 5, Saylor told analysts on the Q1 earnings call that the company might sell some Bitcoin to fund dividends.
Days later, he clarified that Strategy would buy 10 to 20 Bitcoin for every one it sells. In Saylor’s telling, the company stays a net buyer even with sales on the table. The numbers back him up, but three risks could flip Strategy from a net buyer to a net seller.
How Saylor Broke His Own “Never Sell” Rule
In February 2025, with Bitcoin sliding below $80,000, Saylor told his followers, “Sell a kidney if you must, but keep the BTC.” A year later on CNBC, he told Andrew Ross Sorkin that Strategy would buy Bitcoin every quarter forever, and shareholders priced MSTR partly on the assumption Saylor wouldn’t sell.
However, Saylor broke that promise on May 5. On Strategy’s Q1 2026 earnings call, he told analysts the company would “probably sell some Bitcoin to fund a dividend just to inoculate the market—just to send the message that we did it.”
Strategy CEO Phong Le followed with a sharper line: “I believe in math over ideology.” MSTR dropped by 4.33% in value a few hours after, Bitcoin also slipped below $81,000, and Polymarket’s odds of Strategy selling any Bitcoin by year-end jumped from 13% before the call to 87% afterwards.
By the weekend, Saylor was on a podcast tour with a rewrite. “If I were being more precise, I’d say never be a net seller of Bitcoin,” he said. “It just wouldn’t have been so viral or so catchy.” The new framing—buy 10 to 20 Bitcoin for every one sold—softened the panic and doubled as a message to short sellers.
Saylor told Fortune the comments were aimed at the ones betting Strategy would have to issue more MSTR stock to fund dividends. “If you’re a short seller and your thesis is the company’s got to sell equity in order to fund the dividends, I would like nothing better than to rip your wings off.”
How STRC Funds the 20x Buy-To-Sell Ratio
The 20x ratio describes how STRC works. Strategy launched STRC in July 2025 as a preferred stock, and it now does most of the heavy lifting on Bitcoin purchases. Saylor calls it the company’s “Bitcoin accretion engine.”
In April alone, Strategy raised $3.2 billion through STRC. Its monthly dividend obligation on those shares ran $80 to $90 million. The difference is where the 20x comes from. Strategy keeps a small slice to pay STRC holders their 11.5% annual yield and uses the rest to buy Bitcoin.
Moreover, on the Q1 call, Saylor said Bitcoin only needs to grow 2.3% a year for Strategy’s existing reserves to cover all dividend obligations indefinitely—no new capital required. Bitcoin has historically averaged 30% to 40% annual returns, so 2.3% is a low bar. If Bitcoin clears it, Strategy’s reserves will grow faster than dividends drain them, and the company would keep adding Bitcoin even while selling small amounts to cover payments.
That’s why Strategy has shifted toward STRC this year. In January, STRC accounted for 20% of the company’s equity issuance. By April, that number had jumped to 83%. STRC now does most of Strategy’s Bitcoin funding work without diluting MSTR shareholders—which is what makes the 20x claim possible.
The Risks That Could Flip Strategy Into a Net Seller
The 20x case works on paper, but it depends on three conditions holding up. Strategy laid out a new rule on the Q1 call: when its market cap-to-Bitcoin ratio (mNAV) is above 1.22x, the company issues MSTR stock and buys Bitcoin. Below 1.22x, it sells Bitcoin instead. Strategy’s mNAV is hovering around 1.23x right now, which is barely above the trigger.
That cushion only holds if STRC investors keep showing up at $100 a share, and that demand is getting harder to keep. STRC’s dividend rate has climbed from 9% at launch to 11.5% today after seven monthly hikes. BitMEX Research already puts the odds at 70% that this dynamic pushes mNAV below 1.0 in the second half of 2026. If that happens, the capital engine stalls and selling Bitcoin becomes a necessity rather than a choice.
Even with STRC humming along, Bitcoin still has to do its part. The 2.3% breakeven is well below Bitcoin’s historical average returns, but BTC doesn’t deliver in a straight line. The 2022 cycle saw it drop 77% from peak to trough, and the 2026 slide from $126,000 to the mid-$60,000s tested how thick Strategy’s cushion really is. A multi-year stretch of flat or negative returns would burn through the company’s reserves faster than the engine refills them.
Peter Schiff’s take gets at something the numbers alone don’t. Schiff argues Saylor’s promise isn’t credible—when push comes to shove, Saylor will protect the Bitcoin reserves over the STRC investors. “He’d suspend the dividend and crash STRC rather than crash Bitcoin,” Schiff wrote on X. If he’s right, the 20x argument collapses on credibility before any forced sell ever happens.
The market seems to share that doubt, with Polymarket traders now giving Strategy 87% odds of selling Bitcoin by year-end, up from 13% before the Q1 call. This shows that investors are no longer giving Saylor the benefit of the doubt.
Is Strategy Still a Net Buyer?
Strategy is still a net buyer today, but it’s a net buyer with conditions. The 20x ratio holds only if STRC demand stays strong, Bitcoin clears its 2.3% annual breakeven, and the mNAV stays above 1.22x. For investors, the three numbers worth watching are the STRC dividend rate (climbing means demand is weakening), Strategy’s mNAV (a drop below 1.22x triggers the sell-Bitcoin pivot), and Strategy’s weekly Bitcoin purchase reports.
On May 10, Saylor posted “Back to work. BTC” on X—a signal he’s often used the night before a purchase announcement. If he floors the same routine, the next purchase disclosure could become the first test of the 20x claim. Saylor wants to be a net buyer “every month and every quarter going on forever.” So, the next quarterly numbers will show how much of that is policy versus marketing.
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