On July 7, Matt Cole, CEO of Strive, said during an interview that the company’s Bitcoin treasury strategy is designed to withstand even an extraordinarily severe bear market. He specifically stated that Bitcoin can go down to a penny and sit there for 18 months, and the company would do nothing.
Cole says Strive will be fine and won’t have to sell a single BTC. In his own words: “There is no price at which we would get liquidated.”
Strive, a Nasdaq‑listed firm that holds Bitcoin and does structured finance, holds nearly 20,000 BTC. Its focus is on maximizing yield through careful capital management.
Many Bitcoin treasury firms raise money through convertible debt, secured loans, margin, or BTC‑backed loans. If Bitcoin drops hard, those setups can trigger forced selling, and lenders might demand more collateral or early repayment.
The forced selling is generally the biggest concern regarding Bitcoin treasury companies. If a company finances Bitcoin purchases with leverage, a long downturn can trigger a vicious cycle. BTC drops, the company’s value drops, lenders call for more collateral, the company sells Bitcoin, and that selling just drives the price down further.
Strive does things differently, since its capital setup is designed to keep it out of such a downward spiral. The company has no debt linked to Bitcoin’s price and no BTC locked up as collateral, possesses sufficient liquidity to withstand a prolonged downturn, and has no forced selling trigger based on BTC price.
During last month’s interview with Bloomberg Television, Cole noted that Strive has been buying Bitcoin “hand over fist in the midst of this bear market.” He confirmed the company has almost 20,000 BTC, reminding that it had only 5,000 BTC last fall.
Cole also stated that Bitcoin-backed digital credit could eventually become a $3 trillion market. He believes that ETFs around BTC will expand drastically and that there will be several new issuers of digital credit instruments.
As for Strive itself, earlier this year, the company completed an oversubscribed $225 million preferred stock sale via its SATA shares. The funds went toward two main goals, one of which was paying off almost all the old debt from its Semler Scientific acquisition. The second one was purchasing more Bitcoin.
