Strive Enters Top 10 Publicly Traded Bitcoin Holders, Pays Off Debt After Semler Acquisition

Publicly traded financial services company Strive boosted its Bitcoin holdings to more than $1.1 billion worth, making it one of the 10 largest publicly traded holders of crypto’s leading asset, the firm announced on Wednesday. 

The firm acquired 333.89 Bitcoin for an average price of $89,851, bringing its total holdings to 13,131.82 BTC. Strive also said that it paid off 92% of the debt accrued from its recently completed acquisition of Semler Scientific, a medical technology firm that had adopted a BTC treasury strategy. 

“Strive continues to demonstrate leading execution in managing a world-class, Bitcoin-powered treasury, retiring over 90% of the Semler legacy debt just 11 days after closing the Semler acquisition, with intentions to retire the remaining debt by April,” said Strive Chairman and CEO Matt Cole, in a statement.

“By quickly returning to a preferred equity-only amplification structure, we are putting our money where our mouth is in our belief that the optimal way to finance the amplification of Bitcoin is by appropriately matching the long-duration nature of Bitcoin with long-duration financing,” he added. 

The firm’s Semler acquisition was officially approved by Semler shareholders two weeks ago, sending shares in both firms tumbling in the process and combining the medical technology firm’s 5,048 BTC with Strive’s existing holdings. The deal was officially completed just days later.

In addition to its Bitcoin acquisition, the firm announced the closing of a 1.3 million share follow-on offering of its preferred stock SATA, which it sold at $90 per share. Strive said its follow-on offering had more than $600 million in demand.

“The successful completion of this oversubscribed SATA follow-on offering reflects robust and growing investor demand for digital credit, and highlights the Strive team’s disciplined, fast-paced execution of our corporate strategy,” said Chief Investment Officer Ben Werkman, in a statement. 

Founded by former Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Strive raised $750 million to buy Bitcoin last May. It had previously encouraged GameStop to start adding BTC to its coffers, which it also did last May.

Shares in Strive (ASST) are down around 1.5% since the opening bell on Wednesday and have dropped nearly 10% on the week to recently change hands at $0.80. Shares have dropped more than 78% in the last six months.