Author: Kuri, Deep Tide TechFlow

On March 11, a company called Strive announced several things.

Increased its holdings by 179 bitcoins, for a total of 13,311 coins, valued at approximately $930 million. The dividend yield of its preferred stock SATA has been raised to 12.75%. Additionally, it spent $50 million to buy preferred stock STRC of Strategy.

$50 million accounts for more than a third of Strive's treasury.

What does Strive do? Hoards bitcoin. What does Strategy do? Also hoards bitcoin.

This situation became: a company that hoards bitcoin used a third of its money to buy stock from another company that hoards bitcoin.

Strive's Chief Risk Officer Jeff Walton tweeted that STRC is a "high-quality credit product, with good liquidity and a risk-return ratio superior to traditional fixed income." To put it simply: we think this thing is more attractive than government bonds.

He also calculated that if this $50 million were invested in U.S. Treasuries, the annual interest would be about a few million. Buying STRC could yield an extra $3.9 million annually.

Sounds like a good deal.

But if you think about it, where did the money to issue STRC come from?

Strategy issued STRC to finance, and the money raised went to buy bitcoin. STRC can pay you interest as long as Strategy's bitcoins do not drop too hard.

So the underlying logic of Strive's investment is: the bitcoins I’m hoarding will rise, and his bitcoins will also rise, and he can only pay me interest if his bitcoins rise, and I will use this interest to hoard more bitcoin.

This isn't called diversifying investments; it's called nesting.

In case you don’t know Strive

Many know about Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), but not many know about Strive.

However, this company currently holds 13,311 bitcoins, valued at roughly $930 million, just surpassing Tesla's holdings, ranking around tenth among listed companies globally.

Strive’s founder is Vivek Ramaswamy, a second-generation Indian immigrant, with an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a law degree from Yale. In 2022, he and a high school classmate founded Strive in Ohio, focusing on asset management and issuing ETF funds.

Early investors include PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.

In just a year and a half after its launch, the fund's management scale surpassed $1 billion. But Vivek didn’t stay long; he resigned in early 2023 to run for president of the United States. He couldn't compete with Trump in the Republican primaries and has now turned to run for governor of Ohio. Interestingly, both Trump and Musk supported him...

After Vivek left, the new CEO, Matt Cole, managed $70 billion at the California Public Employees' Retirement System and has a background in traditional finance. But last year he made a somewhat unconventional decision.

In September 2025, Cole announced that Strive was transforming from a fund company into a "bitcoin treasury company." They spent $675 million to purchase over 5,800 bitcoins at an average price of $116,000. That same month, they announced the acquisition of another publicly traded company, Semler Scientific, leading to bitcoin holdings exceeding 10,000 coins.

Now, half a year later, holdings have increased to 13,311 coins.

A fund company founded in 2022 has become one of the top ten corporate bitcoin holders in just three years. The speed is astonishing, raising a question:

What money was used to buy these bitcoins?

Nest and Issue Stock

Where did Strive get the money to buy bitcoins? From issuing stocks.

In November last year, Strive issued a type of preferred stock called SATA, which investors buy, and Strive pays interest quarterly, currently annualized at 12.75%. The funds raised are used by Strive to buy bitcoin.

This play wasn't invented by Strive. The inventor is Michael Saylor.

Saylor’s company, Strategy, holds over 730,000 bitcoins, making it the largest corporate bitcoin holder in the world. Last year, he launched a similar product called STRC, which investors buy, and Strategy pays interest, currently annualized at 11.5%. The money raised is also used by Strategy to buy bitcoin.

Up to this point, the two companies operated independently, with similar logic but no connections.

However, the transaction on March 11 connected the two lines. Strive bought $50 million worth of STRC.

The chain became:

Strategy issues STRC to raise money to buy bitcoin, Strive buys STRC to earn interest, and Strive issues its SATA to raise funds, to continue buying bitcoin and STRC.

One layer nested inside another, each layer paying investors double-digit interest, with the basis for interest payments coming from the same source: bitcoin must not drop significantly.

If bitcoin increases, everyone profits. If bitcoin decreases, everyone's interest is at risk, but no single layer can stop loss individually because your asset is another's liability.

Three levels of products, three levels of interest, three levels of investors. At the bottom, the asset must not drop: BTC.

Meanwhile, Strive's own stock ASST recently hit a 52-week high of $268 but is now below $9, having dropped 97%. On the day of announcing the purchase of STRC (March 11), its stock price only rose 5.52%.

Last October, ASST even dropped below $0.80, nearly 50% below the net asset value of its bitcoin holdings.

The picture is like this: a company holding $930 million in bitcoin has a market value of only over $500 million. Its stock price has decreased by 97% from its peak. Yet the management is still adding to their position—buying more bitcoin, buying STRC, increasing the interest on SATA.

However, Strategy's own stock MSTR has experienced eight consecutive months of decline this year. Bitcoin has retracted significantly from its peak last year.

Yet all players in this chain are doubling down.

In the first two months of this year, Strategy purchased 66,000 bitcoins, more than any previous year. Strive increased its bitcoin holdings while also spending $50 million on STRC. The dividend yield for SATA has risen from 10% at launch to 12.75%. The dividend yield for STRC has also increased from 10% to 11.5%.

The higher the interest rates climb, the harder it is for investors to stick around, demanding higher prices.

Data shows that the number of publicly listed companies announcing the use of a "bitcoin treasury strategy" has exceeded 200. Before 2025, this number was less than 30.

Saylor invented a new gameplay, and 200 companies copied the homework. Now, they are starting to buy each other's issued products.

When everyone's bets are on the same table, the difference between "structured financing" and "concentrated gambling" may just be some additional arrows on a PowerPoint.