Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy, has defended the company's June 1 sale of 32 Bitcoin (BTC) as a necessary part of its digital credit business. Speaking at the BTC Prague conference, Saylor clarified that the sale was not a shift from his long-standing belief in holding Bitcoin but a structural requirement for running credit products. He emphasized that any Bitcoin treasury company offering credit must retain the ability to sell the asset to maintain the value of its credit and equity.
Strategy's digital credit products, such as preferred stock instruments like STRC, are backed by the company's Bitcoin holdings. Saylor described these as the digital transformation of credit, offering yields of up to 8%, significantly higher than traditional savings accounts. He sees digital credit markets as a trillion-dollar opportunity that could attract new capital into the Bitcoin ecosystem through yield-bearing products.
However, one of these products, Apyx Finance's dividend-backed synthetic stablecoin apxUSD, faced challenges on June 4. The stablecoin's value dropped to $0.90 as Bitcoin prices fell below $63,000 and STRC shares slipped under their $100 par value. Apyx attributed the decline to reduced collateral value, falling Bitcoin prices, thinning liquidity, and derivative-driven market activity. At press time, apxUSD was trading at $0.96, still below its $1 target.