Strive targets $150M in preferred stock to cut Semler debt and boost Bitcoin stash
Asset manager Strive, co-founded in 2022 by former U.S. presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, is preparing a sizable new capital raise aimed at reshaping its balance sheet and deepening its bet on Bitcoin. The firm plans to issue up to $150 million in preferred stock, with the proceeds earmarked primarily for paying down debt at its subsidiary Semler Scientific and, secondarily, for acquiring additional Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related instruments.
Variable rate preferred stock under ticker SATA
According to the company’s announcement, Strive intends to sell shares of its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock, which trades under the ticker SATA. These securities come with an initial annual dividend of 12.25%, payable monthly in cash. The dividend rate is not fixed indefinitely: it is designed to adjust over time based on market dynamics and short-term interest rates, potentially rising or falling as broader financial conditions change.
Although the preferred shares are technically perpetual — meaning they have no maturity date — Strive retains the option to redeem them. In most scenarios, the company can call the shares at a price of $110 per share, plus any unpaid accrued dividends, giving Strive flexibility to retire this capital if conditions become favorable.
Barclays and Cantor Fitzgerald are leading the deal as joint book-running managers, while Clear Street is serving as co-manager on the offering.
Using fresh capital to reduce Semler’s liabilities
Strive plans to apply the capital raised, together with its existing cash reserves and potential income from unwinding hedging positions, to de-lever its wholly owned subsidiary Semler Scientific. A key focus will be repurchasing part of Semler’s 4.25% convertible senior notes due in 2030. These notes currently represent a long-dated liability that Strive wants to shrink or restructure.
In addition, Strive intends to pay down borrowings under a master loan agreement with Coinbase Credit. Reducing this borrowing should lessen interest expense and counterparty risk tied to the crypto lending market, which has seen significant volatility over the past few years.
The broader objective is to “simplify” the corporate balance sheet and return to what the firm calls a “perpetual-preferred only amplification model” — in other words, relying heavily on perpetual preferred equity as a core funding tool to magnify exposure to Bitcoin and related strategies.
Debt-for-equity swaps to complement the public raise
Alongside the public preferred stock sale, Strive is also preparing private debt-for-equity transactions. The company plans to negotiate exchanges with certain holders of Semler’s convertible notes, allowing those creditors to swap their debt holdings for SATA preferred shares.
These private exchanges would effectively convert part of Semler’s debt burden into equity-like capital at the Strive level. While this approach can meaningfully reduce leverage and interest costs, it comes with a trade-off: the more debt that is converted into SATA shares privately, the smaller the ultimate size of the public preferred stock offering is likely to be. Importantly, such exchanges would not bring in cash for Strive; they would only alter the structure of its obligations.
Any leftover capital goes into Bitcoin
Once priority debts are reduced, Strive plans to direct any remaining proceeds from the SATA issuance toward expanding its Bitcoin treasury. This includes direct purchases of Bitcoin (BTC) as well as investments into Bitcoin-related products, depending on market conditions and the firm’s internal strategy.
This move reinforces Strive’s positioning as a Bitcoin treasury-focused entity, using capital markets tools — such as preferred stock and common equity programs — to systematically build long-term exposure to the asset. The firm is effectively doubling down on the thesis that Bitcoin can function as a core reserve asset and a driver of shareholder value over a multi-year horizon.
Semler acquisition boosts Bitcoin holdings above 12,000 BTC
Earlier in January, Strive announced an all-stock acquisition of Semler Scientific, a deal that has secured shareholder approval. The transaction folds Semler directly into Strive’s structure and brings with it a substantial trove of Bitcoin.
Semler currently holds 5,048.1 BTC on its balance sheet. When combined with Strive’s existing position, the acquisition will lift the group’s total Bitcoin holdings to 12,797.9 BTC. This puts Strive firmly in the camp of publicly visible Bitcoin treasury players that hold significant on-balance-sheet exposure to the cryptocurrency.
For investors, this integration means Strive’s financial performance will be increasingly tied to Bitcoin’s price. While that can amplify returns in a bull market, it also raises volatility and balance-sheet risk in prolonged downturns.
Previous capital programs: $750M and $500M for BTC strategies
The new $150 million preferred raise follows a series of large funding initiatives tied to Bitcoin. In May 2025, Strive unveiled a $750 million program designed to fund what it described as “alpha-generating” strategies, largely centered on Bitcoin-related purchases and structures.
Later, in December, the firm rolled out another $500 million stock sale program, again with proceeds intended to fuel additional Bitcoin accumulation. Taken together, these efforts show a consistent pattern: Strive is using equity and preferred stock issuance as a core mechanism to expand its BTC holdings, treating capital markets as a pipeline for scaling a Bitcoin-centric treasury model.
A difficult road ahead for digital asset treasury firms
Strive’s aggressive expansion is unfolding against a backdrop of growing concern about the long-term sustainability of digital asset treasury companies. Industry executives have warned that many firms built during Bitcoin’s recent rallies are vulnerable if prices stagnate or decline.
MoreMarkets CEO Altan Tutar has warned that 2026 could be a particularly painful year, with widespread closures likely as falling crypto prices and slumping equity valuations strain business models that rely primarily on holding volatile digital assets. When the market is rising, leverage and treasury strategies can look brilliant; when prices reverse, the same structures can rapidly become untenable.
Tutar expects firms focused on altcoin treasuries to feel the pain first. These companies often hold baskets of smaller, more speculative tokens that tend to underperform and suffer deeper drawdowns in bear markets. After that, he anticipates pressure on large-cap altcoin strategies, especially those concentrated in assets such as Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP), where valuations can disconnect from underlying cash flows or adoption metrics.
His core argument: the sector is overcrowded and cannot sustain persistent premiums over net asset value unless firms develop consistent sources of additional return, such as yield-enhancing strategies, fee-based services, or operating businesses that are not solely tied to token appreciation.
How Strive’s model fits into this landscape
Strive’s approach is emblematic of a new class of financial firms that operate somewhere between traditional asset managers and Bitcoin holding companies. Instead of simply running diversified funds, Strive uses its corporate balance sheet as an investment vehicle, raising capital specifically to hold BTC and related assets.
This model offers several potential advantages. Preferred stock and equity programs can provide relatively long-term, patient capital that is less sensitive than short-term debt. If Bitcoin appreciates over time, Strive can use that uplift to enhance book value and potentially redeem or refinance higher-cost capital at better terms. The Semler acquisition also gives Strive greater scale and a more visible profile in Bitcoin treasury circles.
However, the model also magnifies risk. By linking its capital structure closely to a single volatile asset class, Strive becomes highly sensitive not only to spot prices but also to investor sentiment around Bitcoin-linked companies. If funding markets tighten or crypto valuations compress, the cost of issuing new equity or preferred stock could rise sharply, limiting the firm’s ability to continue scaling its strategy.
Why preferred stock is central to Strive’s strategy
The use of perpetual preferred stock is a deliberate choice. Preferred shares sit above common equity but below debt in the capital stack. They typically carry a fixed or variable dividend but no maturity date, making them attractive to issuers who want long-term funding without the refinancing pressure of traditional bonds.
For Strive, SATA preferreds offer multiple benefits:
– The 12.25% starting dividend compensates investors for taking on risk while preserving flexibility for Strive, since the rate can adjust over time.
– The perpetual structure avoids a hard repayment date, which is critical when underlying assets are volatile and long-term in nature.
– The call feature at $110 per share allows Strive to retire these shares if its cost of capital declines or if it wants to simplify its structure in the future.
By replacing some of Semler’s convertible debt and external borrowing with SATA preferreds, Strive is attempting to trade shorter-term, possibly more restrictive obligations for a type of capital more aligned with its long-horizon Bitcoin thesis.
Implications for investors and the broader market
For investors considering exposure to Strive, the new preferred stock presents a clear proposition: a high initial yield with a risk profile tied closely to both the company’s financial health and Bitcoin’s performance. While preferred shareholders stand ahead of common equity in a liquidation, they remain subordinated to senior debt and are exposed to any deterioration in the value of the firm’s assets.
At the sector level, Strive’s continued expansion underscores that institutional interest in Bitcoin as a treasury asset has not disappeared, even amid warnings about potential shakeouts in 2026. The company is effectively betting that scale, structured capital, and a tight focus on BTC — as opposed to a wide range of altcoins — will give it an edge in surviving any industry consolidation.
As more firms pursue similar strategies, the key differentiators are likely to be balance sheet discipline, access to capital markets, and the ability to generate returns beyond simple “buy and hold.” Strive’s planned $150 million SATA raise, combined with its Semler acquisition and earlier multi-hundred-million-dollar programs, signals that it intends to be one of the larger, more visible players in this evolving corner of the market.