Strive Inc. has piled up 43,000 bitcoin after adding 6,182 coins between Oct. 17 and Oct. 23, pushing the company's digital-asset holdings past $1.2 billion even as its stock has collapsed and its founder insists he's merely a shareholder. Vivek Ramaswamy co-founded the company in 2022 and has downplayed his current role, but regulatory filings paint a different picture of who actually controls it.
A Bitcoin Buying Spree Funded by Risky Debt
Strive's bitcoin stash has exploded this year, rising from roughly 12,800 BTC earlier in 2026 to 36,818 BTC by mid-October and now to 43,000 BTC, according to Crypto Briefing. October's buying alone cost roughly $335 million, with Strive paying between $82,000 and $84,500 per coin, the outlet reported. The latest purchase, detailed by The Block, moves Strive closer to CEO Matt Cole's long-stated goal of becoming the second-largest public bitcoin holder by year's end — though the firm currently sits in fourth place behind Strategy, Metaplanet and Twenty One.
To fund the buying, Strive closed an offering of 7 million SATS preferred shares on Oct. 20, raising roughly $630 million before expenses, the same report notes. Those shares pay a 15% annual dividend, and the company has also set up an at-the-market program allowing it to sell up to $1 billion more of the preferred stock, with proceeds earmarked for general corporate purposes including additional bitcoin purchases. Strive has said integrating bitcoin into standard portfolios would hedge against risks it expects to persist for years, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Dividends Versus More Coins: A Balancing Act
That strategy now carries a structural tension. Preferred-stock issuance has funded purchases of nearly 136,000 bitcoin across the industry, according to CoinDesk. But that support weakens as investor sentiment sours, and both Strive and larger rival Strategy now face pressure to balance ongoing bitcoin purchases against recurring dividend obligations, the outlet reported.
The Enquirer, drawing on Strive's own disclosures, reported the company has not turned a profit, losing more than $960 million in the nine months ending June 30, 2026, and disclosing a $563 million loss on just $5.7 million in revenue for the first half of the year. Strive's stock has fallen 85%, from $169.80 to $25.54, since September 2025, and it closed at $25.54 again on Oct. 19, the Enquirer found.
'Just a Shareholder' — But Filings Say Otherwise
Ramaswamy launched Strive Enterprises alongside Anson Frericks in 2022 and served as chairman until February 2023, when he left to run unsuccessfully for president, according to tiffinohio.net. In July 2025, Ramaswamy told Teamsters president Sean O'Brien, “I'm not on the board. I'm just a shareholder of the company at this point,” the same outlet reported, a characterization he has repeated as he now runs as the Republican candidate for Ohio governor.
But Strive's own disclosures identify Ramaswamy as a principal stockholder of what the company itself calls a controlled company, per the Enquirer. Ramaswamy holds at least 40% of Strive's voting power. A separate SEC registration statement says Ramaswamy and the affiliated trust were the sole beneficial owners of Strive's Class A Voting Common Stock before a merger, and were expected to become the largest holders of voting power in the combined company.
Experts Weigh In on Control Versus Ownership
Strive's own annual report warned that insiders can influence key transactions and limit the influence of other shareholders, according to the Enquirer's reporting. The Enquirer calculated that Ramaswamy owns more than 8% of Strive outright, directly and through the family trust, with a stake worth more than $250 million — more than ten times his entire portfolio of dividend-paying stocks disclosed in Ohio filings, and apparently his second-largest asset contributing to his net worth.
Neither Ramaswamy nor his campaign officials answered the Enquirer's questions about his input into company decisions, his role in Strive's mergers, or whether officeholders may operate businesses. Strive officials likewise did not respond to questions about Ramaswamy's participation, whether he visits the company's Dallas offices, or his strategic input, the paper reported. Strive Enterprises announced plans to move its Columbus headquarters and most of its Columbus-based staff to Dallas as part of a merger agreement, with the relocation expected by the end of March 2025, according to tiffinohio.net — a move Strive's CEO has said he decided on independently.
Mergers, a Reverse Split and a Growing Treasury
The Dallas relocation was just one piece of a flurry of corporate activity. Strive has engaged in two mergers, two preferred-stock initial public offerings and a reverse stock split over the prior 18 months, the Enquirer reported, including a 2025 merger announcement with a second company that itself owned more than 5,000 bitcoin. Through it all, Strive has amassed roughly $1.2 billion worth of digital assets, acquiring more than 20,000 bitcoin worth about $1.2 billion as of the Enquirer's reporting — a figure that has since grown further with October's purchases.
Strive also continues to hold 505,000 shares of Strategy's STRC preferred stock, valued at $50.2 million as of Oct. 23, per The Block's report, underscoring how intertwined the leading corporate bitcoin treasuries have become. Bitcoin has fallen 35% from its all-time high in October 2025. Before Strive, Ramaswamy built his fortune founding Roivant Sciences in 2014, where he still holds a stake worth more than $2 billion, despite one of its subsidiaries, Axovant, going out of business after failing to win approval for a potential Alzheimer's treatment.
