Matt Cole, the CEO of Strive, stated that the bitcoin treasury enterprise might close out the year as the world’s second-biggest publicly traded holder of bitcoin after integrating 3,156 BTC into its reserves throughout August alone.
“I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility for Strive to end the year as the number two largest bitcoin holder,” Cole remarked during a Wednesday guest spot on the One Share podcast. Nevertheless, he noted that this scenario is not his primary projection and would demand multiple variables to break in the company’s favor.
Cole highlighted over $700 million in outstanding Strive (ASST) warrants scheduled to expire in mid-October. Should the company’s equity climb past their $27 strike price, converting them could supply Strive with hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire additional bitcoin.
“Plug your bitcoin estimate of price in for when they get exercised and deploy $700 million into bitcoin, and then have another $700 million of capacity for digital credit,” Cole explained. “If we were to achieve that, you’re talking about $1.4 billion of capacity potentially to buy bitcoin.”
Cole further mentioned that he anticipates the warrants being exercised rather than expiring unfulfilled, suggesting the ultimate outcome could deliver an “electric finish” to the organization’s 2026 bitcoin accumulation strategy.
Ramping up BTC buys
Strive accelerated its bitcoin acquisitions in August, picking up 3,156 BTC during the month, compared to a much slower pace of 136 BTC in July, when bitcoin hovered around the lower $62,000 bracket. The enterprise holds a total of 23,156 BTC valued at close to $1.9 billion.
“If we averaged a thousand bitcoin per week on average, which may or may not happen, that in and of itself is a lot of bitcoin,” Cole noted. “I think our ability to shoot up the rankings is pretty high right now.”
The business currently commands the fifth-largest publicly traded bitcoin treasury, overtaking the crypto exchange Bullish last week. The second position is currently held by Twenty One Capital with a reserve of 43,514 BTC, which is slightly less than double Strive’s holdings.
Given that there are 17 weeks remaining in the year, Strive would need to buy approximately 1,200 BTC weekly to overtake Twenty One, presuming Twenty One does not purchase any further BTC. This scenario remains entirely plausible, seeing as Twenty One has not bought any new bitcoin since July 2025.
Cole also forecasted that bitcoin could surpass $500,000 by 2030, though he emphasized that Strive’s balance sheet does not hinge on this milestone.
Shares of Strive pushed up to a year-to-date peak of $26.84 on Thursday, leaving the stock less than 1% below the exercise threshold of the warrants. ASST has outperformed the 10 largest publicly traded bitcoin treasury corporations by an average of 82% over the course of the year, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data.
Originally published at https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-09-03-strive-ceo-company-could-end-2026-second-largest-bitcoin-holder-asst-413455.
