JPMorgan: Strategy’s Bitcoin Sale Policy Introduces “Avoidable Risk” to the Market
According to JPMorgan analysts, Michael Saylor’s Strategy recently officially launched a Bitcoin sale policy, transforming the company from a pure BTC buyer into a potential seller, introducing an “avoidable two-way risk” to the crypto market.
Strategy’s Bitcoin sale policy, named the BTC Monetization Program, allows the company to sell Bitcoin to raise up to $1.25 billion in cash reserves. These funds will be used to pay preferred stock dividends and interest expenses, or to repurchase preferred and common shares, in order to optimize its capital structure.
JPMorgan believes that Strategy’s potential future sale of BTC will increase market uncertainty and volatility regarding the price of Bitcoin. Analysts stated that if the company had instead supplemented its future dividend payment reserves by issuing equity, this risk could have been avoided.
Strategy currently has a minimum cash reserve target covering 12 months of preferred stock dividends and interest expenses, with its current cash reserves of $2.55 billion sufficient to cover approximately 17 months of dividends. JPMorgan believes the company should increase its cash reserves to cover 24 to 36 months of related obligations. Even if this results in the common stock trading at a discount to net asset value, it would provide greater assurance to investors that the company will not be forced to sell Bitcoin in the short term.
