Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) CEO Phong Le said on Thursday that the firm realized in 2026 the importance of holding cash reserves over liquid Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) for balance-sheet strength

The Lessons from the 2026 Bear Market

During the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Le revealed that the “biggest lesson” of 2026 was the need to maintain liquid U.S. dollars to fund its dividend obligations on its Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (NASDAQ:STRC).

“We thought that liquid Bitcoin would be important, but what Mike [Michael Saylor] mentioned earlier is that the people who are holding these preferreds don’t look at Bitcoin the way they look at U.S. dollars,” Le added.

As of this writing, Strategy maintains $3.75 billion in cash reserves, sufficient to cover more than two years of its dividend and interest obligations.

The CEO stated that maintaining a "robust" dollar reserve covering two to three years is a prudent strategy.

Bitcoin Sales to Strengthen Cash Reserves

Earlier this month, Strategy unveiled a Bitcoin monetization program that enables it to sell BTC to bolster cash reserves, pay preferred dividends and debt interest, and fund repurchases of preferred and common shares.

The Michael Saylor-led company has already offloaded 3,620 BTC in 2026, undermining the “never sell” thesis that bullish investors had counted on.

“We’ll sell Bitcoin when it’s advantageous to the company, which we’ve started to do. You could expect that we may do that on a go-forward basis, too,” Le hinted at things to come.

Strategy Misses Revenue Expectations

Strategy reported quarterly revenue of $122.39 million, which just missed the consensus estimate of $122.91 million.

The firm holds over 843,775 Bitcoin, worth $58 billion, making it the largest institutional holder in the world.

Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was exchanging hands at $64,322.87, up 0.28% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Strategy shares rose 0.01% in after-hours trading after closing 4.73% higher at $97.74 during Thursday’s regular trading session. Year-to-date, the stock has plunged 35.68%.

Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MSTR has underperformed with a weaker price trend across short-, medium-, and long-term timeframes.

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