Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) resumed bitcoin (BTC-USD) purchases this week, but it was Strive (NYSE: ASST) that stole the spotlight by acquiring even more of the cryptocurrency.
Strive purchased 1,355 bitcoin at $79,475 each, with the company’s cash position rising to $229.6 million as its share count also increased.
That acquisition effectively meant Strive outbought Strategy during the week, marking a notable moment in the increasingly competitive crypto treasury space.
Analyst Scott Melker noted that Strategy’s previous playbook was straightforward: raise cash by any means available, then immediately purchase bitcoin regardless of price.
To execute that strategy, the company created multiple preferred securities, issued convertible notes, and deployed a range of other debt instruments to fund its bitcoin accumulation machine.
However, that machine grew increasingly complex, and near the bottom of the bear market, Strategy was forced to shore up its balance sheet rather than continue buying aggressively.
Strive, through its preferred product Zeta, was able to learn from Strategy’s experience and adopt only the most effective elements of that capital-raising approach.
Melker observed that Zeta has traded at or above par, allowing Strive to continue purchasing bitcoin at a pace that Strategy, still restarting its engine, cannot currently match.
Crucially, Strategy did not conduct any new capital raises this week, instead drawing on a pre-built USD reserve to fund its $75.7 million bitcoin purchase, while also buying $174 million worth of STRC and using $57.5 million from that reserve to pay preferred dividends.
Strategy ended the week with approximately $5 billion in its dividend-designated USD reserve and $1 billion in flexible cash available for future deployments.
Strive, by contrast, continues to operate more like Strategy once did, selling shares of ASST and its Zeta preferred instrument and immediately converting the proceeds into bitcoin.
The broader question now hanging over the crypto treasury sector is what rising asset prices mean for the many companies that have adopted similar bitcoin accumulation models.
As Melker pointed out, many observers have noted that the biggest cure for struggling treasury companies may simply be significantly higher bitcoin prices across the board.
With bitcoin, Solana (SOL-USD), and Ethereum (ETH-USD) all posting gains, a renewed bull market could spark a meaningful recovery in both the treasury narrative and the stocks tied to it.
