Strategy CEO Phong Le said the company moved quickly to calm investor unease during a Bitcoin slump by raising cash to shore up its dividend outlook. Speaking on CNBC’s Power Lunch, Le said Strategy built 21 months of dividend runway in roughly eight days, putting U.S. dollars on its balance sheet “to get rid of this FUD.”
On Monday the firm disclosed a $1.44 billion USD reserve funded through a stock offering. Strategy said the reserve will cover at least 12 months of dividend payments immediately and is planned to grow to a 24‑month runway over time.
The capital raise was aimed at addressing concerns that a steep drop in Strategy’s share price could impede its ability to meet debt and dividend commitments. Le said circulating claims that the company could not sustain dividends had encouraged short positions against Bitcoin, even though Strategy did not expect to need to sell holdings to make payments. “There was FUD… that we wouldn’t be able to meet our dividend obligations, which causes people to pile into a short Bitcoin bet,” he said.
Le said the company’s rapid fundraising — $1.44 billion in about eight and a half days — was intended both to dispel that FUD and to demonstrate that Strategy can still access capital during a Bitcoin downcycle.
Previously, Strategy said it would consider selling Bitcoin only if its stock traded below net asset value and the company lost access to fresh capital. The firm also launched a “BTC Credit” dashboard asserting it now has sufficient assets to cover dividend payments for more than 70 years.