Strive, Inc., the Dallas-based Bitcoin treasury company co-founded by Vivek Ramaswamy, says its strategy rests on two pillars: institutional custodians safeguard its coins, and an 18-month cash reserve funds its dividend payments. The company says the pairing is designed to let it keep paying investors without ever being forced to sell Bitcoin, even if the market stays depressed for an extended period.

How the Strive Model Works

Strive trades on Nasdaq under the ticker ASST. As of early November 2026, the company held 43,153 BTC, valued at approximately $3 billion, making it the fourth-largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin. Management has said it aims to climb to second place.

Corporate Bitcoin treasuries are a relatively young phenomenon. MicroStrategy — since renamed Strategy — popularized the playbook when it began buying in 2020 and remains the largest publicly traded corporate holder; the roster of listed companies keeping Bitcoin on their balance sheets has expanded steadily since.

Custody of the holdings is handled by institutional custodians — specialized firms whose role is securing large digital-asset positions for clients. They function much like a bank vault rather than the shoebox under the bed, serving customers who cannot afford to lose a private key. Demand for this kind of arrangement grew out of crypto's own history: exchange failures such as Mt. Gox in 2014 and FTX in 2022 left customers unable to reach assets held on-platform, pushing larger holders toward specialized custodians.

The funding side of the model is equally distinctive. Strive carries no traditional debt. Instead, it raises capital through preferred stock — a financing route that has become common among public Bitcoin treasury companies — with two instruments on offer: SATA, which carries a variable dividend of roughly 13%, and SATS, which pays a fixed 15%. Both pay dividends daily, an unusual cadence for a corporate security — most preferred shareholders wait for a quarterly check.

The cash reserve underpins those obligations. Strive keeps 18 months of cash and marketable securities on hand to cover its dividend payments. Put plainly, the company has pre-funded a year and a half of payouts. If Bitcoin slumps, it can keep the dividends flowing without dipping into the coins themselves.

CEO Matt Cole has framed the 18-month reserve as a conservative buffer. In his telling, it allows Strive to honor its dividend commitments while leaving the core Bitcoin position untouched for long-term growth.

From Semler Scientific to Top-Five Holder

Strive's treasury strategy only began in 2025. Its initial Bitcoin came through the acquisition of Semler Scientific, a deal structured as a reverse merger — a structure that combines a business with an already-public company rather than taking the traditional IPO route. Semler had already built a Bitcoin position of its own before the combination, giving Strive a running start rather than requiring it to assemble a treasury from zero.

The company has kept buying since then. Its average acquisition cost sits between $87,000 and $88,000 per BTC.

The arithmetic on those figures stands out. At an average cost of $87,000 to $88,000, 43,153 BTC would have cost well over $3.7 billion, yet the position is valued at approximately $3 billion. In other words, the holdings appear to be worth less than Strive paid for them. That is precisely the scenario the cash reserve was designed for. A company underwater on its main asset, with debt payments looming, might be pushed to sell at the worst possible moment. Strive has no debt, and its dividend bill is covered for 18 months.

What This Means for Investors and the Treasury Trade

For preferred holders, the pitch is yield. A fixed 15% on SATS and a variable figure near 13% on SATA sit well above what conventional fixed-income products typically offer, and the 18-month buffer is intended to make those payments less of a bet on next quarter's Bitcoin price.

The daily dividend structure also deserves attention. It creates a constant, predictable outflow, which is exactly why a dedicated cash pile matters so much to the model.

For common shareholders in ASST, the debt-free approach removes one classic risk: there is no lender who can demand repayment or seize collateral. Preferred equity sits ahead of common stock in the payment line, however, so those dividend commitments represent a real claim on the company.

Strive's stated goal of becoming the second-largest public Bitcoin holder will require substantial additional purchases. How it funds those buys, and whether the 18-month reserve stays intact while it does, will be the clearest signal of whether the conservative framing holds up in practice.