MicroStrategy announces coin selling plan! Netizens dig up Saylor's past remarks: Even if you have to sell a kidney, you must keep your Bitcoin.

MicroStrategy launches a digital credit framework, authorizing the sale of $1.25 billion worth of Bitcoin to pay dividends. The community unearthed the founder’s past remarks about “selling kidneys but not coins,” and mocked him relentlessly, showing that the company is shifting from “never selling a coin” to more flexible monetization.

MicroStrategy launches digital credit capital framework, authorizes sale of $1.25 billion in Bitcoin

MicroStrategy (Strategy, stock ticker: MSTR), the publicly traded company that holds the most Bitcoin globally, announced last night a new Digital Credit Capital Framework. It includes raising the annual dividend on preferred stock STRC to 12% and authorizing plans to liquidate and sell up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin, to bolster reserves and pay interest.

The coin-selling plan sparked heated debate in the community, especially since MicroStrategy sold 32 Bitcoins earlier this June after going many years without doing so. Netizens couldn’t help but dig up remarks made in 2025 by MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor: “Even if you have to sell a kidney, hold onto your Bitcoin.”

Image source: X. MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor once said: Even if you have to sell a kidney, hold onto your Bitcoin.

Having said “sell kidneys, not coins,” the internet mocks: “They’re probably out of kidneys”

After MicroStrategy released the plan, social platform X was flooded with satire and doubts from netizens.

The official account of crypto wallet Trust Wallet shared Saylor’s “sell kidneys, not coins” remark, and its CEO also cited his past statement: “Never sell your Bitcoin”; one netizen mocked, saying that when they’re the ones selling, they tell you to hold tight.

Another netizen accused MicroStrategy of officially becoming a Bitcoin seller, and sarcastically said: “Looks like their kidneys might be running out.”

Some netizens also shared memes comparing the act of selling Bitcoin at a loss to buy their own stocks that have plunged. They contrasted it with the terms MicroStrategy used, such as the “digital credit capital framework,” mocking the company for trying to wrap a sell-off in high-sounding jargon. Others even posted memes of people crying and hugging amid a “red light everywhere” as asset prices fall.

Crypto KOL AB Kuai Dong (@_FORAB) also pointed out that MicroStrategy changed its strategy to stabilize the market. It confirmed that it has shifted from only buying and holding Bitcoin in the past to being able to sell Bitcoin at any time to provide funding for various buybacks and dividends.

Saylor clarifies that “never selling coins” was a misunderstanding, and netizens dig up historical interviews to refute him

In fact, MicroStrategy’s shift has been coming for a long time. In this year’s first quarter, after Bitcoin plunged, MicroStrategy logged a quarterly net loss of $12.54 billion, forcing Saylor to change his tone during the earnings call and admit that the company might sell some Bitcoin to support dividend payments.

Bitcoin skeptics, such as economist Peter Schiff, immediately questioned it—arguing that without continued appreciation in Bitcoin, MicroStrategy’s dividend calculation formula simply could not be sustained.

Amid outside criticism, Saylor previously defended the company’s decisions at the BTC Prague conference.

Saylor clarified that he indeed advised retail investors to never sell Bitcoin, but he never promised that this company, MicroStrategy, would not sell the asset. He emphasized that over the past 5 years, MicroStrategy has clearly disclosed to the public that it would sell Bitcoin when necessary to fulfill financial obligations.

However, this clarification failed to win over the community. Netizens quickly dug up his past remarks in an interview with CoinDesk, proving that he had explicitly stated that MicroStrategy itself would not sell Bitcoin.

• Related report: MicroStrategy’s Saylor: What I said was “you” should never sell Bitcoin—never that the company wouldn’t sell coins

But under the long bear market and mounting community pressure, MicroStrategy also had no choice but to switch course—from never selling a single coin to becoming a “long-term net buyer.” As for how long this more flexible financial model can last, it remains to be tested by the market.