Jeff Walton, chief risk officer at Strive Asset Management, says the idea is almost too simple — and that’s exactly why it could be revolutionary. Walton told investors this week that Bitcoin-backed securities have the potential to reshape how people think about money and credit, and that part of the industry’s skepticism stems from the concept’s straightforwardness.
What Strive is doing
- Strive, a Dallas-based firm, has joined a growing group of issuers creating preferred securities tied to corporate Bitcoin holdings — a new asset class the industry is calling “digital credit.”
- Strive’s offering, SATA preferred shares, carries a 13% annualized dividend and the firm bills it as the first listed U.S. security structured to pay dividends every business day. The company cleared all outstanding debt recently and said daily dividend payments on SATA would begin in June.
- SATA’s market capitalization is roughly $332 million, far smaller than the market cap of MicroStrategy’s dominant product STRC, which exceeds $10 billion.
How big is Strive’s Bitcoin bet?
- An SEC filing covering May 19–22 shows Strive now holds 16,500 BTC. At current prices, that places the firm seventh among public companies with Bitcoin on their balance sheets — roughly $1.3 billion in crypto assets.
- As of May 22, Strive reported about $93 million in cash and cash equivalents, and roughly $50.1 million in fair value tied to holdings of MicroStrategy’s STRC product.
- During the filing period, Strive increased its Class A common shares outstanding by more than 2 million and issued about 515,000 SATA preferred shares, signaling continued use of equity-linked financing to fund Bitcoin purchases. The company says it is evaluating refreshed at-the-market stock sale programs to support further accumulation.
The broader market for “digital credit”
- MicroStrategy — the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin — currently offers four such products (STRC, STRD, STRF, STRK). STRC has emerged as the market leader since its July 2025 launch; it recorded a record single-day trading volume of $1.53 billion earlier this month.
- MicroStrategy chairman Michael Saylor has described STRC as the company’s primary vehicle to fund Bitcoin purchases in 2026. Shareholders will soon vote on a proposal to shift STRC’s dividend cadence to twice monthly.
Why it matters
- These Bitcoin-linked preferreds are creating a new on-ramp for investors to gain exposure to BTC through a yield-bearing security, and issuers are using equity issuance to finance additional Bitcoin purchases. If the model scales, it could blur lines between traditional credit markets and crypto-backed funding mechanisms — provoking fresh debate about valuation, risk, and regulation.
- Watch for Strive’s daily dividend rollout, any new ATM programs, and the outcome of MicroStrategy’s shareholder votes; together they will signal how quickly “digital credit” could expand as a funding tool across the corporate Bitcoin ecosystem.
Background note
- Strive was founded by Vivek Ramaswamy, the 2024 U.S. presidential candidate who has since pivoted to a Republican gubernatorial run in Ohio.
Featured image: Getty Images. Chart: TradingView.
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