Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive is buying Bitcoin like it has absolutely no interest in what the rest of the crypto market is doing. The company has added another 6,182 BTC to its balance sheet, bringing its total holdings to 43,000 Bitcoin.
This is a massive increase from what the company used to have at the start of the year, which was 12,800 coins. In a time when Bitcoin is struggling to stay above the $80,000 mark, Strive is putting in millions to its corporate Bitcoin treasury.
Strive continues to buy Bitcoin amid market dip
Strive’s new acquisition pushes its total holdings to 43,000 BTC, compared to the previous 36,818 BTC mentioned in mid-October. In addition, the company’s previous portfolio was worth over $3 billion, making Strive one of the largest corporate holders of Bitcoin.
Strive is traded on the Nasdaq with the ticker ASST. The buying spree of Strive has intensified this month.
In one week in October, the company reportedly carried out a number of acquisitions worth over 4,000 BTC. This has cost the company about $335 million, with the average price of the Bitcoin being between $82,000 and $84,500.
There is, however, one problem with the numbers.
There are certain transaction amounts that do not totally tally with the disclosures made by Strive. There have been inconsistencies noted by researchers monitoring its acquisitions between the transaction data and its holdings.
It will therefore be very hard to determine accurately the amount Strive spent on all its acquisitions, despite having a clear latest Bitcoin total as per its reports.
Strive’s growth started in January 2026 with its merger with Semler Scientific.
This deal made it possible for Strive to purchase an already existing Bitcoin wallet containing about 12,800 BTC, which means that Strive did not have to begin from scratch and buy everything from the open market.
Meanwhile, the portfolio of the company has increased by more than three times.
Strive is believed to be the fourth-biggest publicly traded corporation holding the most Bitcoin among such corporations that include Strategy and Metaplanet.
It can be noted that management has already expressed their plans. They would like to compete with the biggest Bitcoin corporate owners by 2026.
But there is a financial catch.
As Strive increases its investments, it is clear that there will be more shareholders who bet on Bitcoin regardless of why they initially invested in ASST stocks.
Preferred stocks finance will create an ongoing need for dividend payments. It is not the case that such dividend payments will cease due to falling prices in Bitcoin.
With Strive’s projected acquisition costs sitting between the upper $80,000s and lower $90,000s, its treasury could show substantial unrealized losses if Bitcoin remains below those levels.
The company would still need to meet its financing commitments.
Michael Saylor wants Strategy to become more than a Bitcoin buyer
Meanwhile, Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor is trying to change how investors understand his company’s business.
In a presentation in October 2021 from his Schwab Network interview, Saylor criticized the notion that Strategy merely uses Bitcoin to buy its MSTR stock and then raises capital to buy more Bitcoin.
The real intention is to use Bitcoin-backed capital to develop digital credit instruments for investors wishing to make money but not holding cryptocurrencies.
He spoke about this strategy in September, mentioning the financial structure designed to mitigate risks, decrease payment delays, and make profits from Bitcoin-based lending.
However, there is one difference.
The strategy does not earn typical Bitcoin yields from such deals. The preferable dividend payment for Strategy is corporate payment pledges secured by liquidity, funding operations, and company assets.
The business has also been concentrating on keeping its preferred securities close to their stated values.
Take STRC, which carries a stated amount of $100 per share.
If STRC’s trading price is below that number, then Strategy can repurchase the shares at a discount. This means that the preferred stock will be reduced and the dividend liabilities will be decreased.
But this does not mean that there is no risk involved in this venture for the investor. There is no guarantee for dividends, and the investors can lose money from declining market prices or deteriorating credit ratings of the company.
These worries intensify when Bitcoin continues to decline in value, as Thursday saw the OG crypto trading at about $79,780, about 36.2% off its all-time high.
Asset managers have reduced their net bullish exposure in CME Bitcoin futures by 57% since last year’s peak.
At the same time, spot Bitcoin ETFs have accumulated 87,000 BTC since June’s market bottom.
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