CryptoQuant to Saylor: Hands Off the Wallet, Please 🧊

Strategy (MSTR) should immediately stop buying bitcoin ($BTC) and rebuild a cash reserve that has shrunk to roughly 14 months of dividend coverage from more than seven years at the start of 2026, CryptoQuant said in a Wednesday report. The onchain analytics firm, led by CEO Ki Young Ju and Head of Research Julio Moreno, urged the Michael Saylor-led company to pause accumulation, restore reserves to about $2.8 billion, and adopt a "systematic framework" for purchase timing and a "disciplined selling framework" for the next bull market.

The pressure is concentrated in STRC, Strategy's 11.5%-yielding preferred stock designed to trade around its $100 par value. STRC fell to about $82.50 last week, a record 17.5% below par, before declining further to $79.85 on Wednesday and most recently trading at $87.45, according to Yahoo Finance. Bitcoin itself slid 4% in 24 hours to a low of $59,175 before recovering to around $59,632, CoinGecko data showed. CryptoQuant attributed STRC's slide to a "simultaneous depletion" of cash reserves as a bitcoin correction hit at the same time.

Strategy's U.S. dollar reserve is down 38% year-to-date after the company spent $1.5 billion in May to repurchase its convertible 2029 senior notes at a discount, draining the buffer that supports STRC. Annual dividend obligations have nearly quadrupled to $1.2 billion from about $300 million at the start of 2026 following large STRC issuances. The reserve has partially recovered to about $1.4 billion after Strategy sold 2.71 million MSTR shares between June 15 and 21 for $335.5 million in net proceeds, of which $34.9 million funded 520 BTC, while a Monday share sale added roughly $300 million more to the dollar reserve.

Strategy holds 847,363 BTC acquired at an average price of $75,646 across 113 purchases and one sale since August 11, 2020, according to BitcoinTreasuries.NET, but those holdings offer a "limited emergency cushion." CryptoQuant noted the company sits on a $10.6 billion unrealized loss, with all bitcoin purchased in 2024, 2025, and 2026 underwater, and warned that "any forced BTC sale at current prices would crystallize large losses and destroy shareholder value." The firm said Strategy is not obligated to sell bitcoin to defend STRC's price and could instead raise the dividend, issue more MSTR stock, or continue replenishing reserves, as the company said it plans to do, to "support the credit quality of its Digital Credit securities."