The Smallest Bitcoin Treasury Stock Saw A Bigger August Than Strategy — While GME Sits Out

• Bitcoin’s move above $80,000 earlier in August has helped lift many crypto-linked equities.
• While ASST shares outperformed the market, GME stock has fallen more than 17% so far in August.
• GameStop pledged nearly all of its Bitcoin holdings as collateral for covered-call options, limiting its direct exposure to further Bitcoin gains.

Strive (ASST) shares are on track to nearly double this month, outpacing other crypto-linked equities, including the largest Bitcoin (BTC) treasury Strategy (MSTR), after BTC’s August rally lifted the apex cryptocurrency from around $60,000 to over $80,000.

ASST stock rose over 3% in early morning trade, having logged a jump of over 95% in August so far. Retail sentiment around the Bitcoin treasury trended in the ‘extremely bullish’ zone over the past week, accompanied by chatter at ‘extremely high’ levels. 

Other crypto-linked stocks also posted strong gains during Bitcoin’s August rally. Bullish (BLSH) clocked the second-strongest gains, rallying over 50% in August so far. Twenty One Capital (XXI) and USDC stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) both rose around 40% each. Meanwhile, Ethereum (ETH) treasuries Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) and Sharplink Gaming (SBET) rose over 30% each. 

How A Smaller Bitcoin Treasury Stock Outran Strategy

Strategy, the largest BTC treasury, with over 840,000 Bitcoin on its balance sheet, gained around 36%. MSTR stock gained around 2% in pre-market trade, with retail sentiment dropping to ‘bullish’ from ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past day, and chatter steady at ‘high’ levels.

Strive’s roughly 95% August gain versus Strategy’s 36% shows how smaller companies can provide higher sensitivity to Bitcoin’s moves. Strive holds about 21,356 BTC, compared with more than 840,000 BTC for Strategy.

Strive continues to raise capital to expand its Bitcoin holdings. Recent purchases have been funded through sales of common and preferred shares, including its SATA preferred stock. Meanwhile, Michael Saylor has been selling Bitcoin over the past three months to maximize Bitcoin per share and stabilize the STRC preferred stock amid Bitcoin’s price drop.

August is shaping up to be ASST stock's best month since May last year, however, for MSTR shares, the wait has been longer.

Why GameStop Is Missing Bitcoin’s Rally

Most crypto-linked equities posted double-digit August gains, except GameStop (GME), which fell more than 17% even as Bitcoin surged. 

The difference comes down to how GameStop structured its Bitcoin holdings. GameStop bought 4,710 BTC in May 2025 for roughly $500 million. Soon after, it pledged nearly all of those holdings of around 4,709 BTC as collateral for covered-call options sold to Coinbase Credit. The options have strike prices between $105,000 and $110,000 and run through late March 2026.

Since Coinbase Credit has the right to rehypothecate or sell the pledged Bitcoin, accounting rules require GameStop to remove those coins from its balance sheet. The company instead records a “digital assets receivable,” currently valued at around $368 million.

Bitcoin’s price edged higher by 0.7% in the last 24 hours, still trading below the $80,000 mark last seen on Thursday. Fed chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech did not bring the anticipated catalyst that markets were watching for. 

With Bitcoin still below the $105,000 to $110,000 strike range, that structure has left GameStop largely disconnected from the latest crypto rally.

Read also: Mohamed El-Erian Says Kevin Warsh Faces Jackson Hole Balancing Act Between ‘Reaction Function’ And ‘Original Secular Spirit’

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.