ASST Stock Drops After Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive Buys 2,500 Bitcoin For $185M, Instantly Facing Paper Losses

• Strive Asset Management expanded its Bitcoin treasury by purchasing 2,500 BTC for approximately $185 million over the past week.
• The acquisition increased the company's total Bitcoin holdings to 19,000 BTC.
• Bitcoin dropped below $69,000 after a wave of selling pressure that included Strategy's recent sale of 32 BTC.

Shares of Strive (ASST) plummeted in morning trade on Tuesday after the Vivek Ramaswamy-backed company announced it had bought 2,500 Bitcoin (BTC) for $185 million amid weakness in BTC’s price. 

According to Strive’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Strive acquired an additional 2,500 BTC for $185.2 million at an average cost of $74,092 per Bitcoin. This already leaves it holding paper losses given that Bitcoin’s price is currently below $69,000.

The announcement comes just a day after Michael Saylor-backed Strategy (MSTR) offloaded 32 BTC. Even though the sale is a mere fraction of MSTR’s holdings totaling over 840,000 BTC, retail traders were quick to turn their ire onto Saylor for the selloff.

Bitcoin’s price dropped to $68,800 on Tuesday morning, down 4.3% in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, ASST’s stock and MSTR’s shares plummeted over 8% at market open. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Bitcoin trended in ‘extremely bearish’ territory while sentiment around MSTR remained in the ‘bearish’ zone. Retail sentiment around ASST was slightly more tempered, trending in the ‘neutral’ zone.

Strive Expands Bitcoin Treasury to 19,000 BTC

The latest acquisition increased the company's total Bitcoin holdings to 19,000 BTC, up from 16,500 BTC reported a week earlier. Strive also reported a quarter-to-date Bitcoin yield of 23% and a year-to-date Bitcoin yield of 36.7%. 

While increasing its Bitcoin exposure, Strive also boosted its cash position. The company reported cash and cash equivalents of $137.3 million as of June 1, up from $93.3 million on last week. The company said the $44 million increase was to maintain its 18-month dividend reserve.

ASST’s stock has gained over 4% this year, while MSTR’s stock has fallen over 11% and Bitcoin’s price is down more than 21%. 

Read also: After Three Winning Calls, Arthur Hayes Is Betting Big On Sam Altman’s Crypto Project

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