Saylor Says Bitcoin Sales Are Necessary for Strategy’s Digital Credit Business

Strategy's recent Bitcoin sale appeared to clash with Saylor's "never sell" mantra, but he says the move reflects how the company's digital credit business works. Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy, defended the company's recent Bitcoin sale, saying the ability to sell the asset is necessary to continue issuing "digital credit." Strategy [disclosed its first reported Bitcoin sale](https://cointelegraph.com/news/strategy-first-ever-bitcoin-sale-offloads-32-btc) since 2022 in a June 1 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, offloading 32 BTC in a move that appeared at odds with Saylor's long-running "never sell your Bitcoin" [mantra](https://x.com/saylor/status/1886046076316041641). In an interview with Cointelegraph at the BTC Prague conference, Saylor said that Bitcoin treasury companies must retain the ability to sell holdings when necessary to support dividend-paying securities and other Bitcoin-backed credit products. “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." _Cointelegraph’s Ciaran Lyons (left) and Strategy founder Michael Saylor (right) at BTC Prague. Source: Cointelegraph_ Saylor described products like Strategy's STRC preferred stock as "digital credit" instruments that use the company's Bitcoin balance sheet to support credit obligations. For Strategy, such securities have become a primary vehicle for raising capital to acquire more Bitcoin. Digital credit markets are emerging as the next “trillion-dollar opportunity” in finance, a development that Saylor said could enable yield-bearing digital money products. I see STRC as the digital transformation of credit,” Saylor said, explaining that digital credit products can offer yields of up to 8%, which is three to four times more than traditional savings accounts.