Saylor Discusses Bitcoin Liquidation Option to Prevent Asset Classification Issues
In a recent statement, Strategy's executive chairman Michael Saylor emphasized the significance of the market recognizing that his company retains the ability to liquidate Bitcoin holdings when necessary.
During a recent appearance discussing Strategy's latest earnings report, executive chairman Michael Saylor revealed that he brought up the potential of liquidating Bitcoin holdings as a way to safeguard the cryptocurrency's strategic value over the long haul.
"Our Bitcoin holdings are valued at approximately $65 billion. Should the market perceive that we would hold indefinitely without ever selling, credit rating agencies would question its status as a legitimate asset," Saylor explained during his conversation with Scott Melker on The Wolf Of All Streets podcast, which aired on YouTube on May 10.
"The Bitcoin marketplace offers between $20 and $100 billion in available liquidity that exists independently of our equity position or our credit standing. If we were to declare that we would never tap into that liquidity pool and never utilize that asset, then we would essentially be diminishing the value of the asset that comprises 98% of our company's foundation," Saylor elaborated, further stating:
"It's pretty important to us to send the signal that if we need to, we can."
This clarification follows mounting conjecture throughout the Bitcoin community that emerged after Saylor indicated during Strategy's first-quarter earnings call that the firm might consider selling Bitcoin to "inoculate" the market from potential sudden panic or to strengthen confidence in the organization, which represents a departure from its historically maintained "never sell" Bitcoin philosophy.
Members of the Bitcoin community started expressing various theories across social media platforms. Notable Bitcoin advocate and BnkToTheFuture CEO Simon Dixon commented on May 7 that Strategy "might need to sell some Bitcoin when the financial industrial complex manipulates our Bitcoin collateralized debt obligations and perpetual dividends wrappers."
Since August 2020, when the company adopted Bitcoin as its principal treasury reserve asset, Strategy has maintained a continuous Bitcoin acquisition program. According to the company's official website, it currently possesses 818,869 BTC with an average acquisition cost of $75,540 per coin.
On Monday, Cointelegraph reported that Strategy acquired 535 Bitcoin for $43 million between May 4 and May 10 at an average price of $80,340 per BTC.
While Saylor is known for regularly posting "Never sell your Bitcoin" on X, on May 6, he wrote, "Buy more bitcoin than you sell."