Saylor Drops ‘Doing Business’ Message, Sparks Strategy Bitcoin Mystery

Two Words, No Answer

Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy Inc. (Nasdaq: MSTR), stirred fresh speculation over the company’s next bitcoin move after posting a familiar bitcoin tracker chart on X on Aug. 9. Above the chart, Saylor added only two words: “Doing Business.” The cryptic message immediately drew attention because similar tracker posts have often preceded Strategy’s weekly updates on its massive bitcoin holdings.

Those weekend chart posts have frequently preceded Strategy disclosures showing fresh bitcoin purchases, and traders often treated them as a heads-up. The tell stopped working this summer. Saylor’s last weekend message sparked buy speculation, then the filing showed a sale.

The Chart Was Already Stale

Saylor’s screenshot showed a reserve worth $54.66 billion, 113 purchase events going back to Aug. 10, 2020, and an average cost of $75,653 per coin. Red text put the position 14.21% under water, an unrealized loss of $9,050,924,050.

Strategy’s own dashboard moved little on that picture over the following hour. It put the combined reserve at $58.89 billion as of 10:06 a.m. ET, up $372 million on the day, a figure that includes $4 billion of dollars alongside the coins. Bitcoin alone accounted for roughly $54.9 billion, around $65,180 per coin, leaving the position about $8.6 billion below cost and keeping the argument over bitcoin as a store of value very much alive.

Filings put the cost basis at $75,419 per coin, or about $63.51 billion spent including fees. Strategy describes itself as a bitcoin treasury company and has adopted bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset, while also maintaining a multibillion-dollar U.S. dollar reserve. Its stack works out to 4.01% of every bitcoin that will ever exist.

The Buyer Turned Seller

Strategy’s public ledger is the clearest evidence of the shift, and it runs to 117 entries. An Aug. 3 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) covered 1,638 BTC sold for about $104.73 million between July 27 and Aug. 2, at an average of $63,957.

Three more disposals appear on the same table. The company reported 2,225 coins gone on July 6 at $60,773 each, another 1,363 on June 30 at $59,256, and 32 BTC on June 1 at $77,135. Three of the four sales were executed below the company’s average purchase price.

Capital has been flowing toward preferred-stock dividends, STRC repurchases, and the growing dollar reserve. The Aug. 3 disclosure marked the third selling episode of 2026, with the June 30 and July 6 entries covering a single sale that straddled two reporting weeks. The company bought back 912,143 STRC shares for $81.2 million.

Behind all of it sits an $8.22 billion net loss for the second quarter. The ledger’s own scorecard has followed the price down: BTC yield, the company’s measure of bitcoin added per share, reads 3.5% for the year and negative 4.6% for the current quarter.

What Happens Next Week

The stock closed at $100.01 on Aug. 7, up $3.16 or 3.26%, for a market value of $38.77 billion — less than the bitcoin sitting on the balance sheet. It is down 75% over 12 months, which is a long way from the stated goal of becoming the world’s largest public company.

Shareholders also stand behind $6.75 billion of debt and $15.35 billion of preferred stock, leaving a net reserve of $36.79 billion and an annual interest and dividend bill of $1.75 billion. Saylor has pointed to bitcoin-backed credit as the next billion-dollar finance opportunity, a way to earn from the stack instead of shrinking it. Strategy’s next filing could reveal whether “Doing Business” means another bitcoin sale, a return to buying, or a different capital-management move.