Strive CEO Says They Could Buy Over 20,000 Bitcoin Before Year End

Strive, Inc. chief executive Matt Cole says the company could finish 2026 as the second-largest bitcoin holder in public equity markets. "It's not out of the realm of possibility for Strive to end the year as the number two largest Bitcoin holder," he said on the One Share podcast, before adding the caveat: "Some things are going to have to go right for that to happen."

At current holdings, "some things" means more than 20,000 bitcoin. Strive holds 23,156 BTC and ranks No. 5 on our leaderboard. Second place, Twenty One Capital, holds 43,514. The gap is 20,358 BTC — a number Cole never stated, but the one his ambition requires.

Strategy leads at 845,050 BTC and is out of reach. Below it the field is tight: Twenty One Capital at 43,514, Metaplanet at 43,000, MARA Holdings at 35,577, then Strive at 23,156. To reach No. 2, Strive has to pass all three. Clearing MARA takes 12,421 BTC; Metaplanet, 19,844; Twenty One Capital, 20,358.

The figure is a floor, measured against holdings today, and the companies ahead are still buying — so the real bar at December 31 is likely higher. "I wouldn't say that's my base case," Cole said, "but I would say it's in the possible set of cards."

Cole built the case around capital arriving over the next several weeks. Strive has warrants he put at "north of $700 million notional," struck at $27 and expiring in mid-October. If they are exercised, the cash buys bitcoin, and Cole said it would open room for another $700 million of digital credit behind it. "You're talking about 1.4 billion of capacity potentially to buy Bitcoin," he said, calling the setup a potential "electric finish" to Strive's 2026.

The exercise is conditional: the warrants only pay above $27, and ASST closed at $22.80 on August 28. Cole noted the stock is "more shorted than any company in the S&P 500" and framed the run into October as "the shorts versus the warrant holders." His own preference was plain: "I would rather have them exercised than not exercised."

The recent cadence backs the arithmetic. "Last week we bought 1,800 Bitcoin. The week before we bought north of a thousand," Cole said — the $143.0 million purchase that moved Strive past Bullish into No. 5. He sketched a scenario of averaging "1,000 Bitcoin per week" over four months. With about 17 weeks left in the year, that run rate produces close to 17,000 BTC; the 1,800 pace would produce more than 30,000. "Our ability to shoot up the rankings is pretty high right now," he said.

What is left are the conditions Cole doesn't control — the stock holding above $27, SATA trading at par, and the companies ahead slowing enough to be caught. Bitcoin near $77,000, well off its October 2025 high, sets how far each dollar of capacity goes. Cole called it possible, not likely. The next hundred days decide which.