Every time Michael Saylor said he’d never sell bitcoin

On last night’s earnings call for Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), Michael Saylor and CEO Phong Le finally admitted that they’re considering selling the company’s bitcoin ($BTC).

This sudden change undoes years of guidance and explicit assurances that Strategy would never sell.

Specifically, Saylor and Le told analysts on the company’s first-quarter earnings webinar that Strategy will probably sell some $BTC to pay a dividend, framing the move as a way to “inoculate” the market as to the company’s new strategy.

Le walked through scenarios in which the company would sell $BTC to fund preferred dividends while remaining a “net buyer.”

Truly, it’s a remarkable reversal of rhetoric.

In January 2022, with $BTC down roughly 40%, Bloomberg asked Saylor whether Strategy would ever sell $BTC.

“Never. No. We’re not sellers. We’re only acquiring and holding $BTC,” Saylor swore to Bloomberg. “That’s our strategy.”

In February 2024, Saylor reiterated that promise on Bloomberg TV. “There’s just no reason to sell the winner,” Saylor affirmed. “$BTC is the exit strategy.”

‘We call them poor’

In March 2024, Saylor told Yahoo Finance, “We believe that the highest, best use of capital is to buy $BTC and hold the $BTC.”

In that interview, Saylor delivered one of his most famous promises to never sell $BTC which became the basis for a song and endless memes on social media.

Referencing a comparison of $BTC to real estate, Yahoo Finance’s news anchor asked Saylor, “I don’t think that is your endgame, right? You’re not planning to sell the $BTC at any point. So what is the purpose of it over time? You know, what do you do with the $BTC besides it just gather value?… Most of the people who are buying assets at some point want to sell the assets at a profit.”

Saylor responded, “Let me say it a different way. People that use fiat currency as a store of value, there’s a name for them. We call them poor.”

In his Q3 2024 earnings call, Saylor called $BTC a “permanent treasury reserve asset” to be acquired and held indefinitely.

‘Never. No. We’re not sellers’

In February 2025, Saylor reiterated his policy. “Never sell your $BTC.”

Later that month, he published his 21 Rules of Bitcoin. Rule 20 stated clearly, “You do not sell your $BTC.”

Also that month, with $BTC sliding below $80,000, Saylor escalated to organ donation. “Sell a kidney if you must, but keep the $BTC.”

In March 2025, he said Strategy would “never sell” its $BTC.

Four months later, he acknowledged the buying pattern that had become his persona: “I’m going to be buying the top forever.”

On CNBC’s Squawk Box TV show in February 2026, Saylor told Andrew Ross Sorkin: “We’re not going to be selling; we’re going to be buying $BTC.” He added he expected the company would buy every quarter forever.

He then spent five years telling shareholders that selling was unthinkable. Last night, he told them that rhetoric was merely a marketing tool.