Strive's newly listed SATS perpetual preferred stock—perpetual in that it has no maturity date and can remain outstanding indefinitely—introduces a noteworthy financing possibility: the company could issue preferred equity above its $100 stated amount and increase Net Bitcoin Per Share (Net BPS) with each issuance round, subject to the risks and parameters described below.

The central question is whether SATS will trade above $100. Its unusually high 15% fixed dividend makes that outcome—and the accretion that would follow—plausible.

Why SATS Could Trade Above Par

SATS carries a fixed annual dividend of $15 per share, derived from its $100 stated amount and its 15% rate. The instrument ranks junior to Strive's SATA preferred stock—preferred shares of this kind sit in the middle of a company's capital structure, ahead of common equity but behind conventional debt—but its dividend structure offers investors two attractive features.

First, SATS dividends are cumulative. Strive can defer payments, but any unpaid dividends accumulate as an obligation owed to preferred shareholders.

Second, the $15 annual dividend is fixed. That contrasts with SATA, which currently pays an annualized $13 per share at a variable dividend rate—meaning SATA holders could receive less income in the future if Strive reduces the rate. SATS dividends accrue at a fixed $15 per share per year, though they are payable only “when, as and if” declared by Strive's board and may be deferred.

Together, these features could make SATS particularly appealing to investors seeking predictable long-term income.

A useful comparison is Strategy's STRD, the company's juniormost preferred. Strategy—the company formerly known as MicroStrategy and the largest corporate holder of bitcoin—has likewise used preferred equity as a funding layer over its bitcoin treasury, and STRD currently trades around $71 per share, 29% below its $100 stated amount, with its fixed $10 annual dividend translating into an effective yield of 14%. STRD dividends are also non-cumulative, meaning Strategy can skip payments without creating any obligation to repay those amounts later.

Admittedly, Strategy has significantly stronger Bitcoin asset coverage supporting STRD than Strive has supporting SATS. STRD's 4.7x BTC Rating, in fact, represents twice as much asset coverage as SATA, Strive's most senior instrument.

That said, many income investors may weight dividend reliability more heavily than coverage ratios. SATS offers cumulative dividends and a substantially higher stated yield, creating a reasonable case for the market to price its effective yield below STRD's. If investors bid SATS down to a 13% effective yield, for example, its market price would reach $115.38.

That scenario leads to an interesting financing opportunity for Strive.

The Net Bitcoin Per Share Opportunity

Suppose SATS trades at $115 and Strive issues another 1 million shares through an at-the-market offering—a program that lets a company sell newly issued shares into the open market at prevailing prices over time. Strive would raise $115 million in gross proceeds and buy Bitcoin. Under a Net BPS methodology that deducts preferred stock at its $100 notional amount, however, those new shares would create only $100 million in additional preferred claims. The remaining $15 million would flow directly into the calculation of net Bitcoin attributable to common shareholders.

Under these parameters, Strive effectively raises $115 of capital for every $100 of preferred notional it creates. Because the annual dividend remains fixed at $15, the effective financing cost works out to 13.04% on the capital raised. Strive can achieve this accretion without issuing additional common shares.

There is one caveat: SATS carries a floating liquidation preference that adjusts based on recent market prices. If SATS trades at $115, its liquidation preference can rise toward $115, temporarily increasing the economic claim held by preferred shareholders. The preference can also reset downward: the formula references the previous trading day's closing price during periods surrounding new issuances, as well as the average closing price over the preceding 10 trading days, subject to a $100 floor. If SATS subsequently trades at $100 for 10 trading days, its liquidation preference returns to $100.

While SATS trades above par, the higher liquidation preference offsets some or all of the apparent economic accretion. Once the preference returns to $100, the company retains the additional capital raised above par while the preferred liquidation claim falls back to its stated amount.

But the exact liquidation preference figure only becomes relevant if the company actually liquidates—and that would occur only in a bankruptcy scenario. If Strive went bankrupt, SATS would almost certainly trade below $100, which would itself drive the liquidation preference back down to $100. Viewed in that context, the floating liquidation preference caveat effectively does not matter: it is valid to use $100 per share as the de facto notional value when computing Net BPS.

Two further notes apply. Net BPS is a methodology defined by Strategy, not a metric explicitly reported by Strive. In addition, Strive's prospectus identifies tax risks that may arise if shares are issued above the liquidation preference, including deemed distributions, disqualified preferred stock treatment, and fast-pay stock treatment.

Considered through the Net BPS lens, the above-par issuance premium can therefore become genuine residual asset value for common shareholders. This may be one of the main reasons Strive set the dividend as high as 15%: the elevated payout gives the stock a greater chance of trading above par, enabling the mathematically guaranteed Net BPS accretion described above.

A 15% Cost of Capital?

Of course, the entire strategy depends on SATS's market price. At $115, Strive effectively raises capital at a 13% annual dividend cost. At $100, that cost rises to 15%. At $90, the effective cost climbs to 16.67%—and issuance also becomes dilutive under a Net BPS calculation.

Strive should therefore exercise considerable discipline when issuing SATS through its ATM program. Locking in mid-to-high-teens costs of capital would only pay off if the return on capital from Bitcoin is massive and volatility drag does not become a significant issue.

Capital allocation is further by Strive's stated intention to maintain an 18-month dividend reserve equivalent to $22.50 per SATS share. Assuming the company maintains 18 months of dividend coverage, it would need to set aside $22.50 for each share sold. If shares are sold at par, that means 22.5% of the money raised must sit in cash equivalents, leaving only 77.5% available for deployment into Bitcoin. The true cost of capital—once the drag of being able to use just 77.5% of the financing is factored in—is therefore higher than the effective yield at which the shares were issued.

All of these considerations require careful management.

The Key Question

SATS could become one of the most expensive digital credit instruments on a stated-dividend basis while simultaneously serving as one of the more attractive financing tools under the Net BPS metric.

If investors consistently value SATS at an effective yield below 15%, Strive could issue shares above par, purchase additional Bitcoin, and potentially generate Net BPS accretion under this methodology. If SATS struggles to maintain a premium, that dynamic would not apply. The variables that decide that outcome are observable rather than speculative: SATS's secondary-market price relative to its $100 stated amount, the pace of any issuance through the ATM program, and where the floating liquidation preference stands relative to its $100 floor.

The opportunity lies in the spread between the $100 stated amount and the price income investors are willing to pay for a fixed, cumulative $15 annual dividend. That spread could become a valuable source of accretion for shareholders of ASST, the ticker under which Strive's common stock trades.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: Strive, Inc. (“Strive”), the issuer of the securities discussed here, is a member of Bitcoin For Corporations (“BFC”) and pays membership fees to BFC. Strive did not review this article before publication. This article was written by Allard Peng and reflects the author's own opinion. Scenarios, prices, and yields are hypothetical illustrations, not predictions or guarantees. “Net Bitcoin Per Share” is the author's methodology, not a Strive-reported metric. Third-party data is as of 21 October 2026 from Strategy.com, Strive.com.

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not investment, legal, or tax advice, or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. SATS stock is offered only by Strive's prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus; read them, including the risk factors, before investing. Investing in preferred stock and bitcoin-related securities carries substantial risk, including loss of principal and the risk that dividends are not declared or paid.

This article, first published on Bitcoin Magazine on 21 October 2026, was written by Allard Peng.