Samson Mow has pushed back against the idea that Strategy selling Bitcoin would necessarily undermine its treasury thesis, arguing that Bitcoin treasury companies need flexibility to protect shareholders and manage public-market pressure.
In a May 7 post on X, Mow said the debate around corporate Bitcoin treasuries has become too rigid. While many Bitcoin holders treat selling as a last resort, he argued that companies operating in public markets face a different set of constraints than individual investors.
“Strategy selling Bitcoin isn’t a bad thing,” Mow wrote. “There are differing schools of thought on this topic, but I actually think Bitcoin Treasury Companies should sell Bitcoin when it is warranted. The goal shouldn’t be to never sell Bitcoin, but to benefit and protect shareholders.”
Why Strategy’s Bitcoin Selling Isn’t Bad
Mow’s argument centers on optionality. In his view, a Bitcoin treasury company that publicly rules out selling under all circumstances gives investors, short sellers and arbitrageurs a clearer playbook. A company that can sell, hedge, issue, buy back stock or accumulate more Bitcoin is harder to position against.
“Never selling limits optionality,” Mow said. “Public markets are war. In war, you need all available tools at your disposal.”
He framed the issue not as a rejection of Bitcoin accumulation, but as a question of corporate strategy. Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, has become the most closely watched public-market Bitcoin vehicle, and any discussion of possible Bitcoin sales carries weight because of the company’s role as a proxy for institutional BTC exposure.
Mow argued that the more tools Strategy keeps available, the fewer angles adversaries have. A company that vows to “only ever do one thing,” he said, effectively hands a map to those trying to trade against it. By contrast, removing self-imposed limits makes the corporate treasury more difficult to game.
He also pointed to Adam Back’s BSTR structure as an example of a more explicit framework. According to Mow, BSTR told investors that if shares trade below mNAV, selling Bitcoin to buy back stock is on the table. The implication is that Bitcoin sales can be part of a shareholder-protection mechanism rather than a retreat from the underlying thesis.
Mow connected the point to his own prior work on Bitcoin bonds. He said the instruments he designed included scheduled BTC sales after a five-year lockup, allowing issuers to return capital and share appreciation with bondholders.
“Even the Bitcoin Bonds I designed had scheduled BTC sales baked into the design,” Mow wrote. “After a five-year lockup, the issuer begins selling Bitcoin to return capital and share appreciation with bondholders. Without that mechanism, the instrument could not function.”
For Mow, the key distinction is between gross sales and net accumulation. He argued that a structure can sell Bitcoin at certain points and still leave the issuer with more BTC over time. He applied the same logic to Strategy, saying scheduled or conditional sales would not necessarily contradict its broader accumulation strategy.
Mow also cited Saylor’s own recent language as evidence that the market should not be surprised by the possibility. In April, Saylor wrote that Strategy’s “BTC Breakeven ARR” was around 2.05%, adding that if Bitcoin grows faster than that over time, the company could cover dividends indefinitely without issuing new MSTR shares.
“This implies that Bitcoin can cover dividends, which means selling Bitcoin to cover dividends,” Mow said.That is the more sensitive part of the debate. For many Bitcoin holders, “you do not sell your Bitcoin” has become a central rule of the asset’s culture. Mow did not reject that idea outright, but he narrowed its scope.
“As an individual HODLer you shouldn’t sell your Bitcoin for no reason. Avoid selling if you can. That is the message. It is not literally ‘never sell and take it to the grave.’ You should of course sell it, use it, for important things in your life.”
His conclusion was that Bitcoin treasury companies require a different operating doctrine. “Never sell,” in Mow’s framing, is a rule of thumb, not a binding corporate covenant. For Strategy and similar vehicles, the ability to sell Bitcoin when needed may be part of the mechanism that keeps the structure durable rather than a sign that the thesis has failed.
At press time, BTC traded at 81,469.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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