Michael Saylor Backtracks From Sell a Kidney Stance to Selling Bitcoin

Michael Saylor walked back his most absolute Bitcoin (BTC) maximalist rhetoric this week, telling investors Strategy will probably sell a portion of its 818,334 BTC holdings to fund dividend payments after a $12.54 billion first-quarter loss.

The pivot arrives roughly a year after Saylor told X followers to “sell a kidney if you must, but keep the Bitcoin” and posted his own decree that the only rules of Bitcoin were to buy and never sell.

From Maximalist Tweets to Earnings Call Reversal

In early 2025, Saylor flooded his timeline with absolutist messaging. On Feb. 2 he wrote “Never sell your Bitcoin.” On Feb. 3 he listed the “Rules of Bitcoin” as buying and refusing to sell. By March 4 he taunted shorts with “We can buy more Bitcoin than they can sell.”

The Q1 2026 earnings call delivered a different message. Saylor told analysts the firm would likely move BTC out the door to keep its preferred shareholders paid.

“We’ll probably sell some Bitcoin to fund a dividend just to inoculate the market, just to send the message that we did it.”

$12.5 Billion Loss Forces Pragmatic Pivot

Strategy booked a $14.46 billion unrealized markdown after Bitcoin fell from roughly $87,000 to $68,000 across the quarter. The firm now holds 818,334 BTC at an average cost of $75,537 per coin.

Bitcoin posted its worst opening quarter since 2018, dropping more than 23% as ETF outflows, tariff anxiety, and a hawkish Federal Reserve drained risk appetite.

CFO Phong Le said any sale would proceed only if it lifted Bitcoin per share. Saylor argued BTC needs to appreciate just 2.3% annually for the Strategy to cover its STRC dividends indefinitely through small disposals. The company carries $1.5 billion in yearly dividend obligations and roughly 18 months of cash coverage. The MSTR stock dropped after the call.

Critics Watch Saylor’s Bitcoin Pivot

Long-time skeptics pounced on the contradiction. Economist Peter Schiff has repeatedly labeled the firm’s Bitcoin-funded structure a Ponzi and questioned whether the dividend math holds without continuous BTC appreciation. He has also branded the equity itself a scam, intensifying scrutiny over how long the structure can hold.

The shift forces Saylor to reconcile two voices: the absolutist who told retail to mortgage everything, and the executive now selling to make payroll. The next earnings cycle will reveal whether that reconciliation comes quietly or through public correction.