Strive Asset Management, the $2 Billion Firm Whose Investors Include U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Is Making a Bold Move

Strive is merging with Nasdaq-listed Asset Entities to form the first publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company designed to maximize BTC exposure per share

Strive Asset Management, the $2 billion firm whose investors include U.S. vice president JD Vance and other key players in Donald Trump’s circle, is making a bold move.

The firm is merging with (Nasdaq:AETE) Asset Entities to form the first publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company designed to maximize BTC exposure per share using innovative, minimally dilutive strategies.

The move will make the combined company the latest player in the corporate Bitcoin treasury race pioneered by Michael Saylor’s Strategy (NYSE:STR).

Strive Plans To Buy $1 Billion In BTC Post-Merger

As part of the transaction, which has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors, Asset Entities will become Strive and list on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The merger is expected to close in the second half of 2024, subject to shareholder approval and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

After the merger, Strive plans to issue approximately $1 billion in equity and debt post-merger and use the proceeds to create a sizable Bitcoin stockpile. The asset manager “intends to use all available mechanisms to build a Bitcoin war chest in a minimally dilutive manner to common shareholders and build a long-term investment approach designed to outperform Bitcoin,” it said.

Strive plans to raise capital through a “first-of-its-kind” offering of combined company equity to certain accredited investors in exchange for BTC. Notably, this will be a “tax-free” transaction for investors under Section 351 of the U.S. tax code, a provision that enables appreciated assets to be contributed to a corporation tax-free in return for stock.

“This is an unlock,” Strive CEO Matt Cole opined at the May 7 Strategy World conference on Wednesday. “We all know Bitcoin goes to the moon very quickly. What that means is that all these OG Bitcoin holders have a lot of gains, so as Bitcoin treasury companies evolve a lot of them want to buy [coins] but will have to pay the IRS a tax gain. We’re able to do this in a tax-free manner after the close of this [merger].”

Bitcoin was recently trading at about $96,157, up 1.1 percent over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. Still, BTC is up roughly 50% over the past year and has attracted the attention of a string of firms.

Corporate Bitcoin Treasuries

Corporate Bitcoin treasuries have become widely popular following the greenlighting of spot BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2024.

Companies pioneering the Bitcoin treasury model, such as Strategy, have witnessed huge increases in their share prices in the past year. Last week, Strategy, which now holds 555,450 BTC, announced a further $21 billion at-the-market common stock offering to acquire more of the apex cryptocurrency.

Meanwhile, analysts at broker Bernstein recently projected that corporate treasury buying of Bitcoin could reach $330 billion over the next five years.