Strive Pulls Ahead of Strategy as Bitcoin Rebounds

Bitcoin’s recent rebound from roughly $62,000 to $80,000 has lifted listed companies that use Bitcoin as a treasury asset. Over the past four trading days, Strive has climbed about 54%, while Strategy has gained around 32%. Smaller names such as Twenty One Capital also posted double-digit rebounds. By 2026, the sector is showing clear divergence. The largest players are no longer strictly buyers: since late June this year, Strategy and peers have collectively sold nearly 7,000 BTC. Nearly 40% of Bitcoin treasury companies are now trading below net asset value, prompting many to deleverage or pause large-scale accumulation. Against that backdrop, Strive stands out as one of the few still regularly disclosing purchases, with cumulative holdings of 21,356 BTC. Strive’s perpetual preferred stock, SATA, carries a 13% annual dividend and was updated in June 2026 to become the first U.S.-listed security to pay dividends daily. The company remains far smaller than Strategy, but its current purchase pace and capital-structure choices are fueling a differentiated bull case. CEO Matt Cole has repeatedly reinforced a long-term, high-conviction view on Bitcoin. From anti-ESG ETF issuer to Bitcoin treasury vehicle Strive did not start as a crypto-focused firm. In 2022, Vivek Ramaswamy and former Anheuser-Busch executive Anson Frericks founded the company around a single ETF, DRLL, an anti-ESG energy index fund positioned for investors who oppose ESG-based investment screens. In February 2023, Ramaswamy stepped down as Executive Chairman to run for U.S. President. In April 2023, Matt Cole became CEO and took operational leadership. The strategic pivot arrived in 2025. As Strategy’s Bitcoin-treasury model became increasingly reflected in its valuation, Strive pursued its own version through a reverse merger with Dallas-based public company Asset Entities between May and September 2025. The deal included a $750 million PIPE financing, and the shares continued trading on Nasdaq under the ticker ASST. After the transition, Strive expanded quickly. From September 2025 through January 2026, it acquired Semler Scientific in an all-stock deal, adding roughly 5,000 BTC from the target’s balance sheet. After closing, the combined entity held about 12,798 BTC, ranking 11th among public companies by Bitcoin holdings. Strive also built out its bench: Avik Roy was named Chief Strategy Officer; Eric Semler, former chairman of Semler Scientific, joined the board; and Joe Burnett became Vice President of Bitcoin Strategy and a key spokesperson. ASST initially spiked above $200 after the transformation was announced, then retreated amid a reverse stock split and valuation reset, and now trades in the low teens. As of August 21, Strive reported: 21,356 BTC in cumulative holdings, 505,000 shares of Strategy’s STRC preferred stock valued at about $48.57 million, and roughly $171.9 million in cash. Financing toolkit: common ATM plus daily-dividend preferred Strive’s core funding channels are an at-the-market (ATM) equity program for ASST common shares and the perpetual preferred issue SATA. In May, alongside its first-quarter report, the company said it had repurchased and retired all outstanding long-term notes, leaving it with zero debt, zero margin, and zero pledged Bitcoin. SATA is structured with a $100 par value and a 13% annualized dividend yield. It pays about $0.0516 per share each trading day, totaling roughly $13 per year over 252 trading days, aligning with the stated coupon. SATA fell to around $75 twice this year (early January and June), about three-quarters of par, then recovered with Bitcoin and moved back above par. As perpetual preferred shares, SATA and Strategy’s STRC have no maturity date. Dividends are discretionary and may be deferred, and there are no automatic redemption or liquidation triggers tied to Bitcoin falling to a specified price. This year, Strive increased the size of both its ASST and SATA ATM programs by $2.1 billion each. When SATA sold off sharply in the first half, Strive paused purchases for more than two months, resuming Bitcoin accumulation in August after SATA returned to par and the issuance channel reopened. How Strive differs from Strategy Market comparisons with Strategy are unavoidable. Strive highlights four major distinctions: 1) Debt profile: Strategy issued sizeable convertible notes between 2020 and 2024, including a $3 billion zero-coupon convertible in November 2024 due in 2029, and has shifted more recently toward repurchases and leverage reduction. Strive has no convertible-bond debt. CIO Ben Werkman has argued that relying on equity financing instead of convertibles improved survivability in bear markets. 2) Buy-versus-sell behavior: Strategy has been reducing leverage, repurchasing convertibles and buying back STRC, and has sold nearly 7,000 BTC this year. Strive continues to expand, issuing SATA and buying Bitcoin. 3) Dividend mechanics: STRC offers about 12% annualized, paying $0.50 per share every two weeks. SATA pays daily at a 13% coupon. 4) Cross-holdings: Strive owns about 505,000 shares of Strategy’s STRC preferred (book value around $48.6 million), effectively using a competitor’s preferred as an interest-bearing reserve. The roughly 12% yield from STRC helps support SATA’s dividend obligations. A shifting treasury narrative—and the dilution question The sector narrative is evolving. For years, the implicit pledge was “buy only, never sell,” treating Bitcoin as a permanent balance-sheet asset. In 2026, that promise was symbolically broken when Strategy sold Bitcoin. While the amount was under 1% of its roughly 840,000 BTC holdings, the signal mattered. Strive is earlier in the cycle and has not reached a selling phase. Cole has framed his thesis around structural weakness in the U.S. dollar, capital seeking scarce assets in the AI era, and a “gold-to-Bitcoin ratio” he believes is “leading the bottom.” He has also said that even if Bitcoin fell to one cent and stayed there for 18 months, Strive would not need to sell a single BTC. Insider buying has been another point of emphasis. Cole has pointed to February 19 as the bear-market bottom for ASST, citing open-market purchases by the CFO, CLO, and several executives and directors. Within six months, three independent directors moved into full-time roles, which the company frames as a confidence signal in its Bitcoin exposure, leverage structure, and internal coordination. Still, the practical impact for common shareholders depends on per-share Bitcoin exposure, not just headline BTC growth. During the week of August 17–21, Strive’s Bitcoin reserves rose about 5.48%, but funding came largely from new share issuance. Over the same period, common shares increased from roughly 86.04 million to about 89.68 million, implying about 4.24% dilution at once. SATA also expanded, and preferred stock ranks ahead of common in liquidation. Using the CEBE measure (Bitcoin value per common share), the week’s gain was about 1.73%, rising from around 14,767 satoshis to 15,023 satoshis. Digital credit: the attempt to stabilize the flywheel Strive is confronting a sector-wide issue: in bear markets, the treasury-company “flywheel” can stall. Its proposed answer is “digital credit”—positioning Bitcoin as a credit asset that can support steadier returns rather than purely a bet on price appreciation. CIO Burnett has referenced a Saylor-style framework: if Bitcoin compounds at just 3.3% annually, capital gains could cover preferred dividends, turning the balance sheet into a self-sustaining income engine. SATA’s daily dividend is presented as a productized version of that logic. Cole argues the objective is to maximize expected total return for $ASST by increasing exposure to Bitcoin’s upside as much as the company can responsibly tolerate, while enforcing strict capital discipline. The balancing act is two-sided: withstand drawdowns without forced selling, and avoid being so conservative that upside is missed if Bitcoin rallies. On the downside, Strive avoids forced liquidations by carrying no debt, using no margin, and avoiding structures that could trigger liquidation events. The trade-off is reliance on SATA and ASST trading at or above par or net value to keep financing open. That dependency surfaced earlier this year when SATA fell to roughly 75% of par, prompting a more than two-month pause in accumulation. On the upside, Cole has described ASST’s capital structure as “amplifying,” designed to increase sensitivity to Bitcoin through three reinforcing levers: expanding the pool of scarce assets, increasing the Bitcoin allocation, and adding structural amplification through ASST itself. Strive’s smaller size and thinner liquidity can translate into higher beta. Since the start of this year, ASST is up about 34%, while MSTR is down about 19%. In range volatility terms, ASST has seen roughly 111% versus about 76% for MSTR. Bottom line Strive is positioning itself as an alternative to Strategy with zero debt, daily dividends, and a “digital credit” framing that aims to look safer and more innovative. Underneath, it remains a high-volatility vehicle for Bitcoin exposure. That exposure is increasingly competing with other options, including spot Bitcoin ETFs, structured ETFs, and a growing menu of Bitcoin-linked products. For a smaller company with a lower market cap and thinner liquidity, large funds may find entry and exit difficult, narrowing the investor base. Its appeal is clearer for investors who explicitly want higher beta and can tolerate sharp volatility—the very characteristics that make Strive stand out.