Saylor Says ‘Never Sell Bitcoin’ Was Advice for Individuals, Not Strategy

Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy, the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, pushed back against criticism over the company’s recent sale of the cryptocurrency.

Speaking at the BTC Prague conference on June 11, Saylor said his oft-repeated advice to “never sell your Bitcoin” was aimed at individual investors. At the corporate level, he made clear that Strategy can sell its holdings whenever necessary to protect its financial health.

“When I said never sell your Bitcoin, that was for individual investors,” he said. “We have never said our company would never sell Bitcoin.”

The controversy erupted after it emerged that Strategy sold 32 Bitcoin late last month to meet financial obligations. The amount was only 0.004% of its total holdings, but the move shook the market because the company had long been seen as a symbol of buying and holding Bitcoin for the long term, triggering investor selling.

Saylor also did not hide his frustration with mockery and criticism on social media, including X. “We can’t run a company based on trolls on Twitter saying, ‘Haha, you said you’d never sell Bitcoin,’” he said. “Should we bankrupt a $100 billion company just because we said we wouldn’t sell Bitcoin?”

He went on to stress the company’s financial principles and transparency. Anyone who has listened to Strategy’s earnings calls over the past five years, read its disclosures, or has even a basic ability to assess the situation would know the company has made it very clear that it can sell Bitcoin if necessary, he added.

Strategy helped calm market concerns on June 8 by buying an additional 1,550 Bitcoin for $101 million. The purchase brought the company’s total Bitcoin holdings to 845,256.