So, you want to talk about Strive Inc. (ASST)? Let’s talk about Strive. I’ve been staring at the `asst stock price` chart for the better part of an hour, and it looks less like a financial instrument and more like the EKG of a hummingbird that just mainlined a Red Bull. One day it’s up 27% ($ASST stock is up 22% today. Here's what we see in our data.). A couple weeks before that, it cratered 32% in after-hours trading.
The company is screaming from the rooftops that it’s the "first publicly traded asset management Bitcoin treasury company." They just merged with another company to get their hands on more Bitcoin, bringing their total hoard to nearly 11,000 coins (Strive (ASST) Stock Soars Follows $1.3B Merger and Bitcoin Buying Spree). The true believers on Reddit (`asst reddit`) are probably high-fiving each other into oblivion.
And yet, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m watching a magic trick. It’s a spectacular one, with lots of smoke and flashing lights, but I’m pretty sure I can see the wires holding the whole thing up.
The "Genius" Plan: Print, Buy, Repeat
Strive’s grand strategy, as far as I can decipher from the corporate jargon, is to become the next MicroStrategy (`mstr stock`). CEO Matt Cole calls it an "alpha-generating Bitcoin acquisition platform" with the goal to "increase Bitcoin per share."
Let me translate that for you. It means they print their own stock, which is basically just paper with their name on it, and use it to buy Bitcoin. The idea is that the Bitcoin they buy will appreciate in value faster than they can dilute the hell out of their own shareholders. This is a bold strategy. No, 'bold' doesn't cover it—this is a five-alarm dumpster fire of a strategy built on pure, uncut hopium.
Remember that 32% price crash? That came after an SEC filing announced plans to register 1.28 billion new shares. Not million. Billion. With a 'B'. They are creating an ocean of new stock, and every single new share makes the ones you already own a little more worthless. It’s like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in it by pouring water in faster than it can leak out. Sure, it might work for a while, but what happens when the water pressure drops?
What happens when the `bitcoin price` doesn't just go up in a straight line forever? Because, spoiler alert, it won’t. This entire model is a leveraged bet on a volatile asset, funded by diluting the very people who believe in the mission. It’s financial cannibalism, and it’s being sold to you as the next big thing. Give me a break.
Follow the Money… Right Out the Door
Whenever I’m trying to figure out if a company’s leadership actually believes their own hype, I look at one thing: insider trading. Are the people on the inside, the ones who see the books and sit in the meetings, buying or selling?
Well, in the last six months, insiders at Strive have made exactly zero open-market purchases. Zero. What they have done is sell. The Executive Chairman, Michael Gaubert, sold 30,000 shares. The CFO, Matthew Krueger, sold over 26,000 shares.
I can just picture it now. Krueger, sitting in his sleek Dallas office, the skyline glinting behind him, pulling up his brokerage account on his phone. He glances at the door, makes sure no one is watching, and hits the "sell" button with a quiet tap. A little bead of sweat on his brow, a sigh of relief. He’s out. But you, the retail investor, are supposed to be all in? Offcourse you are.
The institutional money ain’t exactly flooding in, either. One firm, Cerity Partners, added a whopping $38,000 position. That’s probably what their CEO spends on lunch in a week. Another firm dumped its entire position… all four shares of it, for a grand total of ten dollars. This isn't a vote of confidence. It’s a rounding error. It reminds me of my own pathetic attempt to day trade `bynd stock` a few years back. I thought I was a genius for a week, then I got my lunch handed to me. Some things never change, and the house always wins.
So let me ask the question that seems painfully obvious: If the executives are cashing out, why on earth would you cash in?
A Casino Chip Dressed Up as a Company
Look, I get the appeal. I do. Strive is making big, loud moves. They’re buying other companies like Semler Scientific (`smlr stock`) and a Bitcoin media platform called True North. They're hiring crypto "veterans." They want to be the Berkshire Hathaway of the blockchain, as one starry-eyed investor put it.
But Berkshire Hathaway built its empire on buying productive businesses that generate actual cash flow. Strive is buying a volatile digital asset by issuing more of its own volatile stock. They’re also looking at "distressed biotech takeovers" and settling "old Mt. Gox claims" to acquire Bitcoin-linked assets at a discount. It sounds less like Warren Buffett and more like a pawn shop that only deals in crypto.
Analysts warn that stocks like this are "hyper-volatile," moving four to five times as much as Bitcoin itself. A 5% dip in BTC could mean a 20-25% haircut for the `strive stock` price. This isn't investing; it's high-stakes gambling. You might as well go put it all on black in Vegas. At least there you get a free drink.
They want you to believe this is the next frontier of corporate finance, a revolutionary model that will unlock untold value. But all I see is a company whose entire existence depends on a number on a screen going up forever. They want to be the next `tsla stock` or MicroStrategy, but right now they look more like a high-stakes poker game where the house keeps printing more chips for itself, and honestly...
Maybe I’m just old and cynical. Maybe this really is the 4D chess of capital allocation and I’m just too dumb to see it. But does this model actually work if Bitcoin trades sideways for two years? Can they really acquire assets faster than they dilute their shareholders into oblivion? I have my doubts.
It's a Lottery Ticket, Not a Company
Let's be real. Strive Inc. isn't a business in the traditional sense. It doesn't make a product or sell a service that generates predictable revenue. It's a publicly traded proxy for the price of Bitcoin, with a C-suite full of people who are cashing out while telling you to buy in. The `asst stock price` is a reflection of market mania, not corporate fundamentals. Buying this stock isn't an investment decision; it's a bet. It’s a hope that the music doesn’t stop before you can find a chair. Maybe you’ll get lucky and time it right. Most people won’t. I, for one, won't be playing.