Strive Buys $143 Million More Bitcoin, Becomes Fifth-Largest Corporate Holder

Strive picked up another 1,800 bitcoin (BTC) between Aug. 24 and Aug. 28, spending roughly $143 million at an average of $79,431 per coin. The Nasdaq-listed firm disclosed the purchase Monday.

That brings Strive’s total stack to 23,156 BTC, valued at about $1.76 billion at the reference price in the filing. It also vaults the company past exchange Bullish into fifth place among public corporate bitcoin treasories, according to The Block, which cited bitcointreasuries.net data. Strive celebrated on social media with two words: “Strive to five.”

CEO Matt Cole confirmed the buy Monday. Strive, co-founded by Vivek Ramaswamy, trades on Nasdaq under ticker ASST following its merger with Asset Entities. Shares climbed roughly 6% Monday morning to $23. Over the past six months, the stock is up nearly 165%, per Google Finance.

This was Strive’s second purchase in a week. Days earlier, the firm added 1,110 BTC for about $81.5 million at an average price of $73,409 per coin, according to Cointelegraph. Adam Livingston, an adviser to Saturn Credit, noted the latest buy increased Strive’s holdings by roughly 8.4% in five business days.

TD Cowen read the activity as a reason to upgrade. The bank raised its ASST price target more than 14% to $32 from $28 and kept a Buy rating, saying recent treasury activity has “meaningfully exceeded” its previous model, per The Block.

The revised estimates are striking. TD Cowen now expects Strive to acquire nearly 4,300 BTC in the third quarter, a more than 180% jump from its prior 1,500 BTC forecast, followed by another 3,000 BTC in the fourth quarter. Year-end holdings, in the bank’s view, should top 27,100 BTC. That would put Strive within reach of the fourth-ranked holder, Adam Back’s Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, at a little over 30,000 BTC. (The Block’s Quick Take gave a more precise 27,156 BTC figure; the body text said “over 27,100.”)

The math, notably, does not add up on its own. Add 4,300 BTC in Q3 and 3,000 BTC in Q4 to the current 23,156 BTC and you get roughly 30,456 BTC by year-end, about 3,300 more than the headline forecast. The discrepancy sits in TD Cowen’s note, not Strive’s disclosure.

Strive’s year-to-date BTC yield hit 40.8% as of the Aug. 28 filing, up from less than 37% in early June. TD Cowen held its year-end bitcoin price assumption at roughly $97,500 and its 3x multiple on projected treasury gains, The Block reported.

Bitcoin traded around $78,600 Monday, off slightly on the day, Decrypt reported. The asset is on track to close August with a gain of more than 24%, its strongest month since 2017. The rally kicked off Aug. 19 after the U.S. Treasury Department announced plans to double certain long-term bond buybacks, pushing yields lower. Bitcoin climbed more than 23% to a high above $81,000, Cointelegraph reported.

Strive was not alone. Strategy, Michael Saylor’s firm, returned to the market after a roughly 10-week pause, adding 4,603 BTC for nearly $370 million at an average price of $80,318. Its total now stands at 845,050 BTC. The Block and Cointelegraph both reported the pause dated to late June as Strategy focused on building cash reserves, a period during which it sold some bitcoin. Decrypt put the gap at “roughly two months.”

The moves point to renewed institutional appetite for corporate bitcoin treasuries. Whether that appetite survives a price reversal is another question. Traders, as ever, disagree.