Strive buys 3,311 bitcoin, plans IPO of new 15% SATS preferred stock

Nasdaq-listed Strive bought 3,311 bitcoin between Oct. 5 and Oct. 9 at an average price of about $84,500 per coin, inclusive of fees and expenses, the company said in a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 13. The purchase is worth about $280 million and lifted its holdings to 32,773 BTC from 29,462 BTC on Oct. 2. The same day, Strive said it plans an initial public offering of a new preferred stock, SATS, carrying a 15% annual dividend.

Strive's weekly purchases have now risen for two straight weeks. After buying 1,355 BTC on Sept. 14-18 and 1,107 BTC on Sept. 21-25, it bought 2,000 BTC on Sept. 28-Oct. 2 at an average of about $84,422, followed by 3,311 BTC this week. That brings its purchases over the past three weeks to 6,418 BTC.

$208 million in warrants exercised ahead of expiry

Warrant holders, who have the right to buy new shares at a set price, were also active during the same week. CEO Matt Cole wrote on X on Oct. 13 that "$208M in warrants" were exercised last week and that warrants covering about 15.3 million shares remained, expiring at 5 p.m. ET that day. The filing showed shares underlying traditional warrants fell by about 7.99 million, from 23,249,706 on Oct. 2 to 15,255,900 on Oct. 9.

Over the same period, Class A common stock outstanding rose by 9,461,103 shares, the existing SATA preferred stock rose by 532,094 shares, and cash and cash equivalents grew to $310.3 million from $284.7 million. Strive also continues to hold 505,000 shares of Strategy's STRC preferred stock.

New SATS preferred to pay 15% a year

Strive said in a press release on Oct. 13 that, subject to market and other conditions, it intends to conduct an initial public offering of 5 million shares of its "15.00% Series A Perpetual SATS Preferred Stock." Each share has a stated amount of $100 and carries a 15% annual cumulative dividend, meaning any unpaid dividends build up and must be paid later. Dividends are payable on each business day starting Nov. 9. At the closing of the offering, Strive intends to set aside a reserve of $22.50 per share, equal to the first 18 months of dividends. The company said net proceeds may be used to buy bitcoin, for working capital, and to repurchase its Class A common stock or SATA shares, among other purposes. Barclays and Cantor are joint book-running managers.

Strive also changed the terms of its existing SATA preferred. It said in a filing that it amended SATA's certificate of designation to turn its previously announced policy of not selling SATA below $100 per share into a binding restriction. The board kept SATA's annual dividend rate at 13% for November, paying $0.0571 per share each business day.

From about 12,800 BTC in January to more than 32,000

Strive began as an asset manager and has since turned into a company that accumulates bitcoin. When it completed its acquisition of Semler Scientific, another bitcoin-holding company, on Jan. 16, it held about 12,797.9 BTC. Its holdings have grown more than 2.5 times in nine months. According to a filing on Oct. 5, Strive bought 8,137 BTC at an average of $78,885 in the third quarter (July-September) alone, and the 28,000 BTC it held as of Sept. 30 had an average cost of $90,170.

"Strive is turning demand for digital equity ($ASST) and digital credit ($SATA) into demand for Bitcoin."

Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy (on X, Oct. 13)

Saylor described Strive as converting demand for its common stock (ASST) and preferred stock (SATA) into demand for bitcoin.

The Block, citing Bitcoin Treasuries data, reported that Strive is the fifth-largest public company holder of bitcoin, behind Strategy (848,250 BTC), Metaplanet (44,000 BTC), Twenty One (43,514 BTC) and MARA (35,577 BTC).

Bitcoin trades about $1,000 below this week's average cost

Bitcoin traded at $83,508 on Binance at 7:33 a.m. KST on Oct. 14, about $990 below Strive's average purchase price for the week. At that price, Strive's 32,773 BTC are worth about $2.74 billion. Based on Binance daily candles (UTC), bitcoin moved between $80,394 and $86,999 during the Oct. 5-9 buying window.

At the same time, bitcoin traded at 112,936,000 won on Upbit's Korean won market. The kimchi premium (the gap between prices on Korean exchanges and global markets) on Upbit was about 1.4% against Binance's price converted into won. Strive's common stock (ASST) and preferred shares are U.S. stocks that do not trade on Korean exchanges.