Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) CEO Phong Le says the company expects to outperform Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) during the next bull market, even as it is selling some holdings to manage its balance sheet.

"We Sell Bitcoin When We Need To"

Speaking to CNBC on Aug 4, Le described the current crypto downturn as a bear market driven by macroeconomic uncertainty, including elevated interest rates, geopolitical tensions, AI-related capital flows and regulatory uncertainty.

"I think Bitcoin is going through a bear cycle right now," Le said. "What Strategy is designed to do is to outperform Bitcoin in a bull cycle, which I expect to happen in the next year."

Le said the company has navigated similar conditions before and will continue adjusting its capital structure as needed.

"We rotate into Bitcoin, we sell Bitcoin when we need to, and we’ll continue to do so," he said.

Bitcoin Sales ‘A Small Amount‘

Addressing criticism surrounding Strategy’s recent Bitcoin sales, Le emphasized the company is not a forced seller.

"The average cost is not that important to us," he said. "It’s really whether our Bitcoin purchases were accretive to our common shareholders and our Bitcoin per share."

Le noted Strategy has added roughly 170,000 Bitcoin this year while selling only a fraction of that amount.

"We’ve added over 35 times the number of Bitcoin that we’ve sold," he said, arguing recent sales were primarily used to pay dividends and repurchase preferred securities trading below par.

He also pointed to the company’s more than 842,000 Bitcoin holdings, representing over 4% of the maximum Bitcoin supply, as evidence that the sales are immaterial relative to its overall treasury.

“We’re the JPMorgan of the crypto economy,” says Le. “So whether we sell 1,000 Bitcoin out of 840,000, to me, is irrelevant to the conversation.”

CLARITY Act Decision In Focus

Looking ahead, Le said the industry’s priority is regulatory certainty rather than the legislative process itself.

According to Le, federal agencies already have draft rules prepared, and regulation will likely move forward either through congressional approval of the CLARITY Act or executive branch rulemaking.

"I think the most important thing is a decision on CLARITY one way or the other,” he said. “The rules will get made."

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