Strive Buys 4,045 BTC for $335M in a Week, Holdings Hit 36,818 BTC Ahead of a $630M 15% "SATS" Preferred Settlement — What It Means for Bitcoin Buyers

What the 8-K says, number by number

The source is Strive's Form 8-K filed on October 19 (accepted by EDGAR at 07:59 ET). All figures below come from that filing unless marked as our arithmetic.

The purchase came in two pieces. The first 2,822 BTC were bought on October 12 and 13 and announced on October 14; the remaining 1,223 BTC were bought from October 14 to 16 at an average of about $81,734 each, inclusive of fees, which works out to roughly $100 million (our arithmetic: 1,223 × $81,734). The blended average for the whole week, $82,803, means the earlier tranche was bought closer to $83,300 (our arithmetic from the two disclosed averages). At Binance's price of about $82,000 at 16:48 UTC on October 19, the full 36,818 BTC stack is worth about $3.02 billion (our arithmetic), which matches Cointelegraph's "approximately $3 billion".

Note what did not change: Strive still holds 505,000 shares of Strategy's STRC preferred, worth $49.3 million, a position that gives it exposure to the larger treasury company's financing as well as to bitcoin itself.

Where the money came from, and where the next $630 million goes

Strive did not sell anything to buy these coins. The filing explains that between October 12 and 13, holders exercised 273,493,909 traditional warrants for 13,674,703 Class A shares, paying Strive about $369.2 million in gross proceeds. Any warrants left over expired unexercised on October 13, so none remain. That cash funded the week's purchase, and because the share count rose 12.4% while bitcoin holdings rose 12.3%, bitcoin per share was left essentially flat, as Cointelegraph also notes.

The next leg is the SATS stock. According to the October 15 pricing release and the October 16 8-K:

• Strive priced 7,000,000 shares of 15.00% Series A Perpetual SATS Preferred Stock at $90 each, an upsize of 2,000,000 shares, for about $630 million of gross proceeds against a $700 million aggregate stated amount.
• Dividends accrue at 15% a year on the $100 stated amount and, if declared, are paid every business day starting November 9, 2026.
• At closing Strive intends to set aside 18 months of dividends, $22.50 per SATS share, in a reserve funded from cash and securities it already holds.
• Settlement is scheduled for October 20, 2026; as of October 16 no SATS shares were outstanding and no proceeds had been received.
• Stated uses of proceeds begin with "the acquisition of bitcoin and bitcoin-related products", followed by working capital, income-generating assets, and buybacks of common or SATA preferred stock.

If Strive deployed the entire $630 million at Monday's price of roughly $82,000 it could add about 7,700 BTC (our arithmetic), though the filing commits to nothing of the sort; the money can also go to buybacks or acquisitions.

How Strive now ranks

BitcoinTreasuries.net's public-company table, checked on October 19, lists the largest holders as follows:

Strive passed MARA with the earlier October tranche; Cointelegraph adds that Arkham-tracked wallets linked to MARA deposited about $82 million of bitcoin to Binance and Gate in recent days, a report we have not verified on-chain ourselves. The same day, Strategy disclosed a much smaller purchase of 267 BTC for $22 million and a $193 million STRC buyback, covered in our Strategy note. Between them the two companies bought 1,490 BTC in the latest reporting window alone.

The market reaction on Monday was positive for the stock: Cointelegraph, citing Yahoo Finance, put ASST up about 7.7% at $25.95 in late-morning trading.

What it means for you

Corporate treasuries are the bid that ETF flows are not providing right now. Last week US spot bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows, which we covered in the ETF flow note, while Strive alone bought 4,045 BTC at prices between roughly $81,700 and $83,300. That does not make a price floor, but it tells you who was buying the dips that liquidated leveraged longs on October 18 and 19.

If you want the same exposure without the company wrapper, buying spot bitcoin is cheaper than it looks when fees are rebated: open a Bitget account with invite code nexu888 and spot and futures fees are returned automatically through NexuAlpha, or use Binance with code 11350287. Strive paid an average of $82,803 including fees; a retail buyer on a rebated account at Monday's $82,000 pays less per coin than the fourth-largest corporate holder did.

If you are weighing the stock instead, remember what you are buying: a company whose bitcoin per share was flat this week because it issued 12.4% more shares, that now owes 15% a year on $700 million of preferred stated amount starting November 9, and whose dividend reserve covers 18 months. Those are facts from the filings, not a view on the share price.

Quick answers

How much bitcoin does Strive hold now? 36,818 BTC as of October 16, 2026, per the 8-K filed October 19; about $3.02 billion at $82,000.

What did Strive pay? An average of about $82,803 per bitcoin including fees for the 4,045 BTC bought October 12 to 16; the last 1,223 BTC averaged about $81,734.

How did Strive fund the purchase? About $369.2 million of gross proceeds from warrant exercises on October 12 and 13; all traditional warrants have now been exercised or have expired.

What is SATS? Strive's 15.00% Series A Perpetual SATS Preferred Stock: 7,000,000 shares priced at $90 for about $630 million, dividends paid each business day from November 9, settling October 20, with bitcoin purchases listed first among the uses of proceeds.

Where does Strive rank among corporate holders? Fourth, behind Strategy (848,517 BTC), Metaplanet (44,000) and Twenty One Capital (43,514), and ahead of MARA (35,577), per BitcoinTreasuries.net on October 19.

Did bitcoin per share rise? No. Effective common shares rose 12.4% to 124,064,126 while bitcoin holdings rose 12.3%, so bitcoin per share was essentially unchanged for the week.