Strive Buys 147 BTC Cheap and Proves Its Preferred Bet

Strive added 147 bitcoin between August 3 and 7 at an average price of about $64,812, lifting its corporate treasury to 20,167 BTC valued near $1.3 billion. CEO and Chairman Matt Cole confirmed the total on X the same day the company filed the update and launched a refreshed public dashboard.

The buy sits well below the firm’s reported average cost basis near $94,700 and arrives after a first half that delivered a 37.7 percent Bitcoin yield, full debt retirement and steady issuance of its daily-dividend preferred stock.

That combination of a lower entry price, a clean balance sheet and a working preferred-equity engine is what management wants the market to weigh. The latest lot is small next to earlier campaigns, yet it continues the same playbook: raise permanent capital, buy bitcoin, and track the result in bitcoin per diluted share.

The Filing That Moved the Stack Past 20,000

In its August 10 Form 8-K, Strive disclosed the exact window and price. The company purchased 147 bitcoin at an average $64,812 inclusive of fees. Holdings rose from 20,020 BTC on July 31 to 20,167 BTC on August 7.

Cash and cash equivalents climbed from $151.3 million to $154.9 million over the same stretch. Fair value of its 505,000 shares of Strategy’s STRC preferred stock rose by roughly $2.8 million. Class A common shares outstanding increased by 1.23 million to 75.6 million as the company continued to manage its capital base.

• 147 BTC added August 3-7
• $64,812 average all-in price
• 20,167 BTC total holdings
• ~$1.3 billion treasury value at recent prices

BitcoinTreasuries.NET now lists Strive as the seventh-largest public corporate holder. The firm had already crossed the 20,000 mark with smaller July and early-August lots after larger May and June additions.

The 8-K also framed the modest cash build and the STRC mark-up as side effects of the same period, not as separate capital raises. Share count rose as the firm kept managing its equity base while the bitcoin stack moved higher. Together those line items show a treasury that is still accumulating without reintroducing leverage.

Bitcoin Yield Hit 23.9 Percent in the Second Quarter

Strive measures Bitcoin yield as the percentage change in bitcoin holdings relative to diluted shares outstanding. For the quarter ended June 30 the figure came in at 23.9 percent. For the first six months of 2026 it reached 37.7 percent.

Cole rounded the numbers to 24 percent and 38 percent in his public post. During the second quarter alone the company acquired 6,236 bitcoin. Year-to-date acquisitions through June 30 totaled 12,237 bitcoin. By early August the cumulative 2026 tally had climbed further.

GAAP results showed a $257.6 million net loss for the quarter, driven almost entirely by mark-to-market declines on bitcoin and the STRC position. Operating revenue remained modest at $2.94 million. Management treats the Bitcoin yield number, not GAAP earnings, as the core performance gauge for the treasury strategy.

The gap between the two measures is structural. Mark-to-market swings hit the income statement whenever bitcoin or STRC prices move, while Bitcoin yield only cares whether holdings rose faster than the diluted share count. Full debt retirement in the same quarter removed interest expense from the story and left cash as a residual buffer rather than a debt-service reserve.

SATA Turns the Treasury Into Daily Cash Flow

The capital structure behind the buys is the Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock, ticker SATA. It carries a $100 stated amount and currently pays a 13 percent annual rate distributed every business day. At recent market prices near $98.50 the effective yield sits around 13.2 percent.

As of the latest dashboard snapshot, 7.83 million SATA shares are outstanding. Annual dividend obligation is roughly $102 million. Strive reports 14.7 years of total dividend coverage against treasury asset value and 1.5 years of dedicated reserves. Dividends have been classified as return of capital given the absence of accumulated earnings and profits.

• Stated amount $100 per share, variable rate currently 13 percent
• Daily cash distributions, cumulative with step-up to 20 percent on deferral
• Rate cuts limited; issuer cannot reduce unless price averages $99-plus
• No new issuance below $100; management incentives tied to meeting dividend obligations
• Preferred claim on residual assets only; not collateralized by the bitcoin itself

This is the financing engine. Strive has repeatedly described a preferred-equity-only approach to funding future bitcoin purchases. SATA holders receive the income stream while common equity (ASST) captures the bitcoin-per-share accretion. The structure has drawn comparisons to other preferred layers used by large treasury companies, including the pressures faced by preferred stockholders in Bitcoin treasuries during volatility.

Coverage math matters for that comparison. Fourteen-point-seven years of total coverage against treasury value gives the dividend stream a long asset cushion, while the 1.5 years of dedicated reserves speak to near-term cash discipline. Because the preferred is not collateralized by the bitcoin itself, common shareholders keep the upside and the mark-to-market risk on the stack.

How the Semler Deal Set the Scale

The rapid climb from a few thousand bitcoin to more than 20,000 began with the September 2025 all-stock acquisition of Semler Scientific. At announcement Strive held roughly 5,900 BTC. Semler brought another 5,000-plus. Combined holdings jumped above 10,900 BTC and the company became the first public asset manager to complete a bitcoin-treasury-on-treasury merger.

1. September 2025: All-stock deal announced; combined treasury projected above 10,900 BTC
2. Early 2026: Integration and continued open-market buys push holdings past 15,000
3. May 2026: 1,109 BTC added
4. June 2026: 2,500 BTC tranche and smaller follow-ons
5. July-August 2026: Steady lots including the latest 147 BTC take the total to 20,167

An earlier $194 million Bitcoin purchase formed part of the same multi-month campaign. The average cost across the entire stack sits near $94,700 according to tracking services. That makes every sub-$65,000 lot accretive on a cost basis even before share-count dynamics are considered.

The Semler combination did more than double the stack overnight. It also locked in a template: absorb another treasury through equity, then keep buying in the open market with preferred proceeds. May and June supplied the heavy open-market volume; July and August have been about keeping the per-share metric from stalling.

Where 20,167 BTC Sits Among Public Holders

Public companies now hold more than 1.26 million bitcoin. Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) dominates with 840,447 BTC. The next tier is far smaller.

The public company Bitcoin rankings place Strive just ahead of SpaceX and Coinbase. The gap to the top is enormous, yet the firm has moved from outside the top 15 into the single digits in under a year. Meanwhile Strategy’s recent Bitcoin sales to build cash reserves have drawn attention; Strive has kept buying.

Rank seven puts Strive inside a tight band from Bullish at 24,300 down through Riot at 15,680. Crossing each of those names required both the Semler jump and the open-market campaign that followed. The distance to Strategy remains a different category of scale, which is why the firm’s own narrative stays fixed on yield and cost basis rather than on closing that gap.

The Dashboard and the Message Cole Sent

On the same day as the 8-K, Strive launched a redesigned website and a live Bitcoin treasury dashboard. The page shows BTC holdings and transactions, ASST market data, SATA price, yield, coverage ratios and distribution history in one view. Cole highlighted it directly.

STRIVE 2Q26 HIGHLIGHTS
BTC Yield of 24% in 2Q26 & 38% for 1H26
SATA Daily Dividends
Retired 100% of debt

Strive also acquired 147 $BTC last week & now hodls ₿20,167.

New treasury dashboard & website launched TODAY.

Cole, who spent 15 years at CalPERS overseeing more than $70 billion in fixed income before joining Strive, has framed Bitcoin as the hurdle rate for every capital decision. The company still runs an asset-management business, yet the treasury and the preferred product now dominate the public narrative.

On X the reaction mixed straightforward accumulation praise with recognition that corporate demand has shifted toward specialized treasury vehicles even as some ETF flows have cooled. The daily income layer is the detail many posts singled out as the differentiator.

Lower Entry Prices Pull the Blended Cost Down

The stack’s reported average cost near $94,700 reflects the heavier buying done when bitcoin traded higher. Lots filled near $64,812 pull that blend lower with every coin added. The latest 147 bitcoin illustrate the arithmetic without needing a new campaign size.

Cost-basis accretion and Bitcoin yield move together when share issuance is controlled. A cheaper coin raises holdings while the diluted share count rises only by the equity used to fund the preferred layer and related capital management. Management already points investors to yield rather than GAAP marks; sub-average purchases simply reinforce that framing on the cost side as well.

• Stack average cost near $94,700
• Latest lot average $64,812 all-in
• Gap of roughly $30,000 per coin versus the blend
• Earlier $194 million purchase part of the same higher-cost phase

None of that changes the mark-to-market path on the income statement. It does change the internal hurdle for the next purchase decision, which Cole has already described as bitcoin-first for every unit of capital.

What the Preferred Layer Leaves for Common Shares

SATA’s design separates income from residual upside. Holders of the preferred collect the daily distribution at the current 13 percent stated rate, with the effective yield near 13.2 percent at recent prices around $98.50. Common equity keeps the bitcoin-per-share path and any lasting revaluation of the treasury.

Constraints on the preferred protect that split. The issuer cannot cut the rate unless the price averages $99 or higher, cannot issue new shares below the $100 stated amount, and faces a step-up to 20 percent if distributions are deferred. Management incentives are tied to meeting the dividend schedule, which aligns operating choices with keeping the preferred current.

Return-of-capital treatment follows from the lack of accumulated earnings and profits, so distributions do not imply GAAP profitability. The practical test is coverage and cash. With debt fully retired and cash at $154.9 million, the firm can service the preferred while still placing modest open-market bitcoin bids when prices sit under the stack average.

The latest 147 bitcoin cost roughly $9.5 million. It is a modest clip next to earlier multi-thousand-coin buys, yet it keeps the per-share metric moving in the direction management tracks. Cash remains ample, debt is gone, and the preferred machine continues to print daily distributions while the common equity sits on a larger bitcoin base bought, on average, at higher prices than the most recent lots. That is the bet being tested in real time.