Bitcoin Is The Hardest Hurdle Rate To Beat, Says Strive CEO Matt Cole, And ‘Cash Is Almost Irresponsible’

• Matt Cole said Bitcoin has become the corporate "hurdle rate" companies should benchmark capital allocation decisions against.
• Cole argued it is "almost irresponsible" for corporations not to hold Bitcoin, citing currency debasement and AI disruption risks.
• Strive has accumulated more than 19,000 BTC as part of its treasury strategy, according to BitcoinTreasuries.Net.

Strive (ASST) CEO Matt Cole said that Bitcoin (BTC) has become a corporate "hurdle rate,” the benchmark companies should measure their capital's performance against, rather than traditional returns.

"Bitcoin is the hardest hurdle rate to beat," Cole said in a Bitcoin Magazine interview on Wednesday. "It's very volatile in the short term, and so the reason we can set it at a lower rate is that if you don't think you can beat Bitcoin, you should just buy Bitcoin,” he added.

The Strive CEO said this framework reshaped how companies should evaluate their own operations. He argued that a business generating steady profits should still ask whether continuing to run that business, rather than selling it and buying Bitcoin instead.

Why Corporations Should Hold Bitcoin

He said it was "almost irresponsible" for a corporation not to hold Bitcoin on its balance sheet, pointing to a dual threat facing modern companies: currency debasement on one side, and AI-driven disruption to existing business models on the other. 

Cole cited historical turnover in the S&P 500 (SPX), noting that over 50% of the index's companies fell out over 50 years as the internet reshaped industries, and said he expects AI to accelerate similar turnover in the years ahead. He said holding Bitcoin functions as a hedge against both risks at once.

Strive Expands Its Bitcoin Treasury

Strive has steadily grown its Bitcoin treasury, and holds over 19,000 BTC, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.Net. 

Cole compared the scale of that single purchase to Strategy's (MSTR) buying activity, saying that an equivalently sized purchase for Strategy would amount to somewhere between 4,000 and 40,000 BTC in a week, calling that figure "jaw-dropping."

‘Buy More Bitcoin’ At $1 Million

Additionally, when asked what he would do if Bitcoin reached $1 million, Cole said his answer wouldn't change. "Probably buy more Bitcoin," he explained, adding that if the dollar continued to weaken, there was effectively no ceiling on how high Bitcoin's price could climb.

Cole also added that he believed a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve remained stalled in Congress less because of skepticism toward Bitcoin itself, and more because lawmakers continued to conflate Bitcoin with cryptocurrency broadly. "They don't understand Bitcoin versus crypto, Bitcoin versus Trump coin," he said, calling that conflation "a big problem" for future legislation.

Bitcoin’s price was up over 0.6% during the past 24 hours. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around BTC remained in the ‘bullish’ zone, while chatter around it stayed in the ‘normal’ levels over the past day.

Read also: Cathie Wood-led ARK Invest Buys Coinbase, Trails Only SpaceX Among Friday's Top Buys

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