Nasdaq-listed Strive (NASDAQ: ASST) disclosed on October 19 that it purchased a total of 4,045 Bitcoin between October 12 and October 16, spending roughly $335 million at an average price of about $82,803 per coin, raising its total Bitcoin holdings from 32,773 to 36,818. At market prices at the time, that stake was worth more than $3 billion. The purchase was mainly funded by investors exercising warrants, with the company raising about $369.2 million through new share issuance. At the same time, Strive launched a perpetual preferred stock financing plan of about $630 million with a 15% dividend rate to support its strategy of continuously expanding its digital asset reserves.
4,045 Bitcoin bought in one week, holdings rise to 36,818 coins
According to regulatory filings, Strive bought 4,045 Bitcoin between October 12 and October 16 at an average cost of about $82,803, for a total outlay of roughly $335 million. Of that, the final 1,223 Bitcoin purchased between October 14 and October 16 carried an average price of about $81,734, below the overall average for the round. This marked the second consecutive week of large-scale Bitcoin accumulation by Strive. In the prior week, the company bought 3,311 Bitcoin for about $280 million at an average price of roughly $84,500. Over the two weeks combined, it purchased 7,356 Bitcoin for about $615 million, reflecting its continued push to make Bitcoin a core treasury reserve asset. Strive was originally co-founded in 2022 by former U.S. presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and others, and mainly engaged in asset management. In May 2025, the company began shifting toward a Bitcoin reserve strategy and advanced a merger with listed company Asset Entities. In September of the same year, Strive also agreed to acquire medical device company Semler Scientific, which held about 5,000 Bitcoin, in an all-stock deal worth about $1.3 billion. When shareholders approved the transaction in January of this year, the combined Bitcoin holdings stood at about 12,800, and they have now grown to nearly triple that level.
Warrant exercises raise $369 million, shares outstanding jump 13.5% in a week
The Bitcoin purchases were funded mainly by warrant exercises. Between October 12 and October 13, investors exercised 273,493,909 warrants in exchange for 13,674,703 new Class A common shares, raising about $369.2 million for Strive. The remaining unexercised warrants expired on October 13, and regulatory filings show the company now has no outstanding traditional warrants. With the new share issuance, Strive's Class A common shares rose from about 101.2 million to about 114.8 million in a week, an increase of about 13.5%. That means existing shareholders have been diluted, and whether the newly added Bitcoin assets can generate sufficient returns will directly affect the economic value of this financing for original shareholders. As of the end of the reporting period, Strive held $317.5 million in cash, up $7.2 million from before. By issuing shares to raise funds and then using the cash to buy Bitcoin, the company has turned its common stock into a tool for investors to gain indirect exposure to Bitcoin prices, but it has also made its asset value and share price performance more dependent on digital asset market trends.
Another $630 million preferred stock financing launched, with an annual dividend yield as high as 15%
In addition to the warrant financing, Strive announced on October 15 an expanded new preferred stock offering, planning to issue 7 million shares of SATS Series A perpetual preferred stock at $90 per share, expected to raise about $630 million in total. The preferred stock has a par value of $100 per share and an annual dividend rate of 15%, meaning $15 per share per year in dividends. Because investors are actually subscribing at $90, the nominal annual dividend yield relative to the issue price is about 16.7%. SATS is perpetual preferred stock with no fixed maturity date, and dividends are declared and paid by the board as stipulated. The dividends are cumulative, so if the company fails to pay on time, the unpaid amount continues to accumulate rather than automatically disappearing. Under the offering arrangements, Strive plans to reserve $22.50 per preferred share, equal to the first 18 months of dividends, to support initial payouts. The offering is expected to close on October 20, with regular dividend payments set to begin on November 9. However, this financing method also carries a high cost of capital. Based on 7 million shares and $15 per share per year in dividends, the annual dividend amount for this batch of preferred stock is about $105 million. Unlike common stock financing, cumulative preferred stock creates continuous dividend payment pressure, and its economic sustainability depends on the company's future asset performance and financing capacity.
Strategy also adds Bitcoin, while new MSCI rules may affect digital asset reserve companies
During Strive's accumulation, the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, Strategy, also continued to build reserves. The company bought 267 Bitcoin last week for about $22.1 million at an average price of about $82,900, lifting total holdings to 848,517. At the same time, Strategy spent $193.1 million repurchasing its own STRC preferred shares and raised the size of its related preferred stock buyback plan from $2 billion to $3 billion. Strive currently holds 505,000 shares of Strategy's STRC preferred stock, indicating a degree of linkage between the capital structures of the two Bitcoin reserve companies. However, the capital market environment for digital asset reserve companies is changing. Index provider MSCI finalized on October 15 its index screening rules for "non-operating companies." If a company fails to pass tests on substantive operating assets and subsequent financial indicators, it will be removed from the relevant index after the close on November 30. MSCI plans to publish the final list of affected companies on November 11. Strategy founder Michael Saylor previously criticized the proposal as discriminatory. For companies that rely on capital market financing to buy digital assets, changes in index eligibility could affect holdings by passive investment funds and stock liquidity.
Digital asset reserve companies keep expanding, but financing costs and equity dilution become key
In the broader digital asset reserve market, Tom Lee's Bitmine also recently added 12,535 Ethereum for about $30 million, bringing total holdings to 6,041,481, or about 4.9% of Ethereum's total supply. Lee previously said the company plans to stop buying once its holdings reach 5%, indicating that some digital asset reserve companies are approaching their own position targets. However, recent declines in market risk appetite, concerns over AI financing, U.S.-Iran tensions, uncertainty around the U.S. midterm elections and rising U.S. Treasury yields are affecting investors' willingness to allocate to highly volatile assets. For Strive, the $335 million Bitcoin purchase further expands its digital asset exposure, while warrant exercises and the high-yield preferred stock offering provide new financing channels. At the same time, common shares rose 13.5% in a week and the annual dividend burden tied to the preferred financing is about $105 million, meaning the company will need to balance expanding Bitcoin holdings, controlling financing costs and protecting the interests of existing shareholders.
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