$500M Bitcoin Buy Strive CEO on Corporate Trade Returning

Strive’s Bitcoin accumulation has accelerated sharply. Paul cited a purchase of 1,223 BTC for $100 million that brought the company’s holdings to 36,000 BTC, and also referred to a $511 million purchase. Matt Cole said Strive had just announced another purchase of more than 6,000 BTC, taking its holdings to 43,000 BTC—1,001 BTC behind the second-largest corporate holder, with 44,000 BTC. Cole said the corporate Bitcoin trade is returning because the underlying rationale of fiat-currency debasement remains strong.

Strive finances some Bitcoin purchases through preferred equity, which Cole said is not debt and has no maturity date. The company uses the proceeds for a carry trade, betting Bitcoin’s long-term gains will exceed its cost of capital. That approach can amplify losses as well as gains: Cole put Strive’s amplification ratio at about 60%, versus roughly 25% for Strategy. He said investors use Strive common equity for amplified Bitcoin exposure and preferred equity for income.

Strive’s preferred equity had grown to more than $2 billion in notional outstanding since its first issue the previous November. Cole said the company launched a fixed-rate preferred product the prior week, contrasting it with Strategy’s variable-rate STRC. SATA and STRC are designed to limit price volatility around $100 per share while offering high income; SATS instead offers a fixed 15% rate and may be more volatile. Cole said it is too early to tell whether fixed-rate products will attract more demand.

Cole said Strive’s average Bitcoin purchase price is just under $90,000, but the company does not try to predict short-term prices. Its investment horizon is four to 20 years, and it can raise substantial capital with Bitcoin below $100,000; he also acknowledged that Bitcoin could fall further. He attributed Strive’s strong performance for the year, despite Bitcoin being slightly down, to execution, while noting that such a divergence would be unusual. Cole said Strive grew its holdings from just over 5,000 BTC to 40,000 BTC during the bear market, and argued its smaller balance sheet enables more efficient amplification than Strategy’s roughly 800,000 BTC balance sheet.

Cole’s $500,000 Bitcoin outlook for 2030 depends in part on a structural bear market in the dollar. His scenarios ranged from about 30% annual growth in a lower-growth case to 50% in a base case and 70% in a bull case; he said he favored the base or bull outcomes. He expects efforts to contain long-term U.S. government rates to put pressure on the dollar, which he described as Bitcoin’s strongest correlation among financial metrics. A meaningful improvement in the U.S. fiscal situation is the main challenge he sees to the debasement trade, but he considers that outcome very unlikely. He welcomed other companies buying Bitcoin, saying corporate demand supports its price.

Cole said Strategy’s accumulation has slowed while Strive has recently been buying more, though he expects Strategy to attract institutional capital over time. He said large banks, insurers, asset managers and pension funds are moving slowly. On tokenization, he sees potential for on-chain securities to broaden access and improve liquidity, but expects a messy transition and doubts the use of Ethereum or Solana tokens will be large enough to materially lift their value. He expects tokenization to add some value to Bitcoin, whose appeal he sees as driven mainly by debasement. He also said developers may be able to deploy responses to quantum risks within months, although choosing an approach could take time; he estimated 5% to 10% of Bitcoin faces a one-time quantum-related risk and opposed permanently locking affected coins as an overreach. Cole cautioned against leverage and said Strive has no encumbered Bitcoin or liquidation points.