Saylor signals bitcoin sale for tax-loss harvesting — Strategy's $2.2B deferred tax asset is the real play!

On Strategy's Q1 2026 earnings call, executive chairman Michael Saylor confirmed the company was prepared to sell bitcoin — reviving a tax-loss harvesting playbook last used in December 2022, when Strategy sold 704 BTC at roughly $16,776 and repurchased 810 BTC just two days later to carry losses back against prior capital gains.

The setup today is larger in scale. Bitcoin fell 23% in Q1 2026 — from $87,500 to $67,700 — and under FASB fair value accounting rules adopted January 2025, Strategy marked its entire 434,000+ BTC stack to market, booking a $12.54 billion unrealized loss directly through the income statement. That generated a $2.2 billion deferred tax asset at a 29% effective rate, which can offset future gains if bitcoin recovers and Strategy sells into strength.

Proceeds from any sale are earmarked for specific capital allocation priorities: retiring $8.2 billion in…