Michael Saylor said Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) will “probably sell some Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) to fund a dividend just to inoculate the market” on Tuesday’s Q1 earnings call.

The stock fell more than 4% on the news in after-hours trade but pared most of the move Wednesday morning as Bitcoin climbed back above $82,000.

Strategy posted a record $12.54 billion net loss for the quarter, driven by a $14.46 billion unrealized impairment after Bitcoin slid 23% to start the year.

What Saylor Said

The comment is the clearest departure from the “never sell” doctrine Saylor has built Strategy around since 2020. He framed it as a natural evolution, calling Strategy a “Bitcoin development company” that buys with credit, lets the asset appreciate, then sells selectively.

CEO Phong Le had earlier echoed the same logic, saying that selling Bitcoin to buy dollars or retire debt is “something we would consider going forward.”

In February, Saylor told CNBC that Strategy would “buy Bitcoin every quarter forever.” Three months later, with BTC near $81,000, he is comparing Strategy to a real estate developer that buys land cheap and “sells it expensively.”

How Polymarket And Wall Street Repriced It

Odds that the company sells any of its Bitcoin before Dec. 31 surged to 48% on Polymarket from roughly 10% in late April, the contract’s sharpest move since launch. A separate market on whether Strategy gets margin called this year ticked from 10% to 12%.

BTIG analyst Andrew Harte reiterated a Buy rating and lifted his MSTR price target to $350 from $250 on management’s flexibility.

The bearish read has named voices too. Peter Schiff has called Strategy’s 11.5% yield Stretch (NASDAQ:STRC) preferred stock “the most obvious Ponzi that has ever existed,” and Saylor’s openness to selling Bitcoin to fund STRC dividends rather than issue fresh equity adds weight to the critique.

The Bigger Risk For Bitcoin

Strategy has been the single biggest source of new Bitcoin demand for two years, with STRC-funded purchases this year outpacing the combined net inflows of all U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, per Saylor’s Bitcoin 2026 keynote.

A shift from one-way buyer to occasional seller is a structural change to BTC demand, no matter how small the actual sales.

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