Strive CEO Says Tokenized Stocks Won't Impact Bitcoin Treasury Companies - People Are Here For The ‘Premium’

• Strive CEO Matt Cole said in an interview that tokenized stocks don't threaten Bitcoin treasury companies.
• He said Strive never sold Bitcoin and kept buying through the bear market.
• Cole added that Strive outperformed Bitcoin by more than 100% in 2026.

Shares of Strive (ASST) edged lower in the morning on Wednesday, amid broader market weakness, after CEO Matt Cole said tokenized stocks will not make Bitcoin (BTC) treasury companies obsolete. 

Matt Cole explained on Bloomberg that the same is true of any company. "Why would you want to own dollars when you can own a company that tries to take dollars and earns more dollars?" he said. 

Cole added that when people buy shares in digital asset treasuries, they end up with more Bitcoin than they could hold on their own. This will not change when the asset moves on-chain. “I think the question becomes: Do you trust the management team to actually deliver you more dollars if you're a normal company? More Bitcoin if you're a Bitcoin company?” Coles said, adding that tokenization cannot combat “a premium.”

A Bitcoin treasury company works the same way, Cole said. It takes in capital, buys Bitcoin, and tries to grow the Bitcoin behind each share.

'It Never Broke'

Cole said the digital asset treasury model held up through the bear market. Strive “never sold a single Bitcoin” and kept buying throughout, he said, adding that Strategy (MSTR) was also a net buyer over the period.

Strive has followed Strategy's playbook, raised capital through its Variable-Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock (SATA) and used the proceeds to buy Bitcoin. Its holdings now stand above 26,000 BTC, and Strive falls under the top 10 public Bitcoin treasury companies, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net

Cole noted that timing and structure went wrong elsewhere. He said a wave of treasury companies launched “straight into the bear market” last year, and “some of them have bad debt terms.” Not all will succeed, he said, though he expected some of them to “surprise people.”

The Flywheel

Cole said SATA pays a 13% yield, distributed daily. If Bitcoin rises more than 13% a year, Strive structurally outperforms it, he said. That is what happened in 2026, according to Cole, with Strive returning over 100% while Bitcoin was roughly flat.

That math depended on Bitcoin. The token posted its strongest August since 2017 and hit an eight-month high of over $86,000 on Tuesday.

Bitcoin’s price fell 2% over the past 24 hours, trading at around $84,600. The apex cryptocurrency remains over 33% below its all-time high. 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around BTC remained in the ‘bullish’ zone, while chatter stayed at ‘normal’ levels over the past day.

ASST stock was down over 1% in morning trade. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around ASST remained in the ‘bullish’ zone, accompanied by ‘high’ chatter levels over the past day.

The shares have gained over 50% in the past month and almost 94% year-to-date. 

Read also: Trump’s Accounts Bought MSTR, COIN Stocks – Sold MARA, CLSK In July

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