Strive (NASDAQ: ASST) continued its march toward the number two spot on the corporate Bitcoin holders leaderboard as CEO Matt Cole disclosed the firm's third-largest Bitcoin purchase, a $169 million outlay that added roughly 2,000 BTC to its stack. The disclosure, made on October 5, is about six times the amount Michael Saylor's Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) reported in an SEC filing for the period between October 1 and 4. Strategy, meanwhile, bought 334 BTC for almost $29 million, pushing its record Bitcoin reserve to 848,000 BTC. For scale, Strategy's reserve now stands at roughly 29 times the size of Strive's entire holding.

Strategy extends its BTC reserve record

An 8-K filing sent to the SEC by Strategy revealed the firm spent $28.7 million to add 334 BTC at an average of $85,838.80 per coin. The purchase lifts Strategy's reserve to 848,000 BTC, extending a stash that already stood at a record 847,666 BTC.

Strategy funded the $28.7 million outlay with $15.7 million raised from the sale of 92,894 MSTR shares, along with $13 million drawn from its U.S. dollar cash holdings.

The bigger headline in the filing was the scale of Strategy's buyback of its own STRC preferred: $73.7 million for 740,634 STRC. The week before, the company spent $102.6 million on the same buybacks, as reported by Cryptopolitan.

The Saylor-led firm also estimated a $20.91 billion gain on its digital asset holdings for the quarter that ended September 30.

Strive buys 6x the amount Strategy bought

Strive is on a hotter Bitcoin accumulation streak, extended by the latest 2,000 BTC addition — the third-largest purchase in the firm's history. The disclosure amounts to roughly six times the Bitcoin Strategy bought in the same early-October window.

Led by CEO Matt Cole, Strive has leaned on large weekly purchases even as Strategy's growth rate has flattened under the weight of its own stash. As Cryptopolitan reported on September 21, Strive added 1,355 BTC for $107.7 million at an average of $79,475 — a larger buy than the 950 coins Strategy disclosed the same day. Earlier runs included 1,800 coins in late August and a 469-coin purchase that pushed the firm past 25,000 BTC. The newest buy's $169 million price tag tops that September outlay by more than half, underscoring how quickly the capital Strive deploys each week is scaling up.

How far Strive still has to climb

As of October 5, Strive ranks fifth among public corporate Bitcoin holders with 29,462 BTC, behind Strategy, Tether-backed Twenty One (43,514 BTC), Metaplanet (44,000 BTC) and MARA (35,577 BTC). Second place is Strive's stated year-end target. On the current standings, that path runs through MARA first, then the closely matched Twenty One and Metaplanet, with Strive needing roughly 14,500 more BTC to clear Metaplanet's 44,000.

The accumulation push is powered mostly by SATA, Strive's Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock, which pays a daily dividend and has crossed $1 billion in notional value, according to Cryptopolitan. Warrant exercises tied to its common stock added roughly $21.2 million in gross proceeds; counting that money, SATA accounted for 57.7% of the capital Strive raised during its September buying week.

Strategy, by contrast, funds its Bitcoin purchases through a mix of equity sales and cash while directing most of its firepower toward preferred-share repurchases and dividend coverage — this filing period alone, $73.7 million of STRC buybacks against $28.7 million of new Bitcoin. Further leaderboard movement should surface in the same places as this week's shifts: Strategy's 8-K filings and Strive's purchase disclosures as its year-end target approaches.