Michael Saylor, BTC seller? – MicroStrategy is known for its massive purchases of bitcoins, and much less for their sale. Why then did Michael Saylor decide at the end of December to to part with a (small) portion of his golden jackpot? The underside of the case.
Sale of BTC: not a forced separation, but…
Sell your bitcoins? The very idea seems repulsive Michael Saylora true converted fan of this new digital nugget, despite the drastic fall in the price and the losses generated throughout 2022 by his company. Since 2020 and the first period of confinement of Covid-19 during which he immersed himself in this promising technology, Saylor never stopped investing his time and money in bitcoin. A real Ingres violin.
The surprise was therefore great when a report from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a revealed that MicroStrategy had separated from 704 BTC at the price of 16 776 dollars, on December 22. A first since the beginning of its monstrous accumulation. A little earlier, between 1is November and December 21, the subsidiary MacroStrategy of Michael Saylor had nevertheless endeavored to garner 2 395 BTC at an average price of 17 871 dollars by BTC. The maneuver therefore seems to make no sense, except to cause a net loss for the company; the resale price being lower than the average purchase price of these bitcoins.
The answer ? She is quite simple. Taking a loss was exactly the goal sought by Michael Saylor. This may seem counter-intuitive at first. But it’s actually a simple accounting trick that allowed him to optimize his year-end tax return. MicroStrategy hastened to redeem 810 BTC only 2 days later realizing his loss. But then, what is it really about?
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… a masterfully crafted tax strategy
Mystery solved. There was nothing to make a big deal out of it. It was all about lowering taxes. Wasp not crazy.
“MicroStrategy expects to offset capital losses resulting from this transaction against previously accrued gains to the extent permitted under current federal income tax laws. This may generate a tax benefit. »
MicroStrategy Statement
The practice is actually very common among some investors. The latter deliberately choose to sell part of their assets at a loss to optimize their tax return. In this case here for Michael Saylor, Bitcoin. Why Bitcoin? It is not insignificant.
“The rule prohibiting the sham sale of assets at a loss to buy them back less than 30 days later does not apply to Bitcoin. Crypto not being considered a stock [aux USA], there is no specific rule that applies to it. »
Selva Ozelli, tax lawyer
The ingenious Michael Saylor therefore made good use of this exception and took advantage of the Bitcoin price to optimize his company’s taxes. He therefore never intended to withdraw any Bitcoin from his war chest. True to its strategy of DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging)it would not even be very surprising if he continued to buy some in 2023 for maybe, who knows, catch up with china ?
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