Strategy, the company known for its large bitcoin purchases, has sold some of its BTC holdings for the first time in several years. The sale is important because the company has long been known for holding bitcoin and not selling it.

According to a company filing, Strategy sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31. The company received about $2.5 million from the sale, with each bitcoin sold for an average price of $77,135. Strategy said the money will be used to pay dividends to investors who own its preferred stock.

Although the sale attracted attention, it was very small compared to the company's total bitcoin holdings. As of May 31, Strategy owned 843,706 BTC. The 32 bitcoin sold represented only about 0.0038% of its total holdings.

Michael Saylor, Strategy's executive chairman, has spent years encouraging people to buy and hold bitcoin for the long term. Because of this, many investors were surprised when the company decided to sell some of its stash.

However, Saylor had already suggested that a sale could happen. During a company earnings call earlier this year, he said, "We will probably sell some bitcoin to pay a dividend just to inoculate the market and send the message that we did it."

Later, Saylor and Strategy CEO Phong Le explained that selling small amounts of bitcoin was one of several ways the company could raise money when needed. They said any decision would be made with the goal of benefiting shareholders and increasing the company's bitcoin value per share over time.

Le also made it clear that the company is no longer committed to never selling bitcoin. He said, "We are not going to sit back and just say we will never sell the bitcoin." Instead, Strategy will sell bitcoin if management believes it is the right financial decision.

This sale appears to be Strategy's first true reduction of its bitcoin holdings since the company began buying bitcoin in 2020. The only previous sale happened in December 2022, when the company sold 704 BTC for tax reasons before quickly buying back even more bitcoin.

The latest sale was different because it was used to help pay dividend obligations. Strategy now has several preferred stock products that require regular dividend payments to investors.

The company had announced dividend payments for five preferred stock series: STRC, STRF, STRK, STRD, and STRE. These dividend payments create ongoing financial obligations that Strategy must meet.

One reason the sale has attracted attention is that Strategy already has a large cash reserve. The company created a special US dollar reserve to help pay dividends and debt-related expenses. At the end of May, that reserve contained about $900 million.

Even with this large cash reserve, Strategy chose to sell a small amount of bitcoin. Some investors viewed this as a signal that the company is willing to use its bitcoin holdings when needed instead of relying only on cash reserves.

At the same time, Strategy continued raising money through stock sales. During the same week, the company sold nearly 802,000 shares of common stock and raised about $128.3 million.

The company also recently spent about $1.38 billion to buy back $1.5 billion worth of convertible debt. This move reduced some of its future debt obligations.