Strive director Pierre Rochard has purchased 15,900 ASST shares worth $199,386 as the Bitcoin treasury company’s preferred stock has returned close to its $100 par value.
Summary
- Rochard bought 15,900 ASST shares at an average price of $12.54 on Aug. 14.
- The open-market purchase was his first reported direct holding of Strive common stock.
- ASST rose in Wednesday trading after closing 3.03% lower at $12.80 on Tuesday.
- Strive recently bought 79 BTC for $5 million, lifting its holdings to 20,246 BTC.
Rochard has made his first reported ASST purchase
The SEC Form 4 filing, submitted on Aug. 18, showed that Rochard acquired the Class A common shares through an open-market transaction on Aug. 14. At $12.54 per share, the purchase carried a total value of $199,386.
Following the trade, Rochard directly owned 15,900 ASST shares. The filing listed no derivative securities or additional indirect holdings associated with the director.
Rochard did not execute the purchase under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, according to the disclosure. Such plans allow corporate insiders to arrange future transactions under preset instructions, which can help separate trades from information they may later receive through their roles.
Because the purchase took place outside such a plan, Rochard made a direct open-market acquisition at the reported price. The filing did not provide his reasons for buying the stock or state whether he intends to add more shares.
Rochard serves on Strive’s board and is chief executive of The Bitcoin Bond Company. A long-time Bitcoin advocate, he has recently argued that the cryptocurrency’s monetary rules and governance remain strong despite bearish market sentiment.
In a separate public comment, Rochard criticized Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110, or BIP-110, which has been described as the Reduced Data Temporary Softfork. The proposal has faced opposition from several Bitcoin supporters, including Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor.
“BIP-110 was a demonic demoralization psyop, praying for all those affected to make a full recovery,” Rochard said.
ASST stock has climbed after Tuesday’s decline
ASST entered Wednesday’s session above its Tuesday close after falling 3.03% to $12.80 in the previous trading day. The shares opened at $12.94 and traded as high as $13.75 during the session, according to market data from Investing.com.
The move extended a recovery from Strive’s lower levels but left the common stock exposed to changes in both Bitcoin’s price and the company’s financing activity. ASST investors hold an equity interest in a U.S.-listed company whose balance sheet includes 20,246 BTC, cash reserves, and preferred securities issued by Strategy.
Rochard’s purchase represents a financial commitment from a company director, though the SEC filing contains no statement describing the trade as a signal about Strive’s expected performance. Insider purchases can attract attention from investors, but they do not guarantee that a company’s share price or operating results will improve.
Institutional investors have also built positions in ASST. In May, crypto.news reported that State Street had raised its Strive exposure by 770% after purchasing nearly 1 million shares, valued at about $17.7 million at the time.
The U.S. securities filing gives American investors direct information about Rochard’s transaction under Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act. Directors, senior officers, and shareholders with more than 10% ownership generally must disclose changes in their holdings through Form 4 filings.
ASST trades on Nasdaq, allowing investors to gain exposure to Strive’s business and Bitcoin treasury without holding BTC directly. Common shareholders, however, rank below preferred shareholders in Strive’s capital structure and remain exposed to possible dilution when the company issues more stock to finance its strategy.
SATA nearing par could reopen Bitcoin funding
Strive’s SATA preferred stock traded close to $100 this week after spending much of the previous two months below par. The security reached $99.79 on Tuesday, its highest level in about two months, before remaining near the $100 reference price during Wednesday trading.
SATA is Strive’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock. Unlike ASST common shares, the instrument gives holders priority for its declared dividends but does not have a fixed maturity date.
Strive began paying SATA dividends every business day on June 16. As previously covered in May, the company set an annualized dividend rate of 13%, with daily compounding producing an effective annual yield of about 13.88% at the time.
Pricing near par matters because Strive can sell preferred shares more efficiently when the market value is close to or above the security’s $100 reference amount. Issuing SATA well below par would require the company to sell more shares to raise the same amount of capital, increasing its dividend obligations for each dollar received.
Strive previously laid out plans to increase its at-the-market programs for ASST and SATA by $2.1 billion each. The proposed fundraising expansion would provide up to $4.2 billion in added capacity, subject to market demand and the company’s ability to issue securities on acceptable terms.
Strive’s structure uses preferred equity alongside common-stock sales to fund Bitcoin purchases. SATA holders receive priority dividends, while ASST shareholders retain the remaining exposure to changes in the value of Strive’s assets after its senior claims are considered.
Strive now holds 20,246 Bitcoin
Strive disclosed in an Aug. 17 Form 8-K filing that it purchased 79 BTC between Aug. 10 and Aug. 14 for about $5 million. The company paid an average of $63,231 per coin, including fees and expenses.
The transaction lifted its Bitcoin holdings from 20,167 BTC to 20,246 BTC. Strive also reported $154.8 million in cash and cash equivalents as of Aug. 14, down $100,000 from one week earlier.
Alongside its direct Bitcoin position, Strive owned 505,000 shares of Strategy’s STRC preferred stock, valued at about $47.86 million. The number of STRC shares remained unchanged during the reporting period, while their fair value declined by $116,000.
Strive’s latest 79 BTC purchase was smaller than its earlier acquisitions. A June SEC disclosure showed that the company had added 2,500 BTC for $185.2 million, increasing its treasury to 19,000 BTC at the time.
Chief executive Matt Cole said Bitcoin appeared inexpensive at its current range and indicated that Strive was prepared to accept more risk to expand its position.
“Bitcoin is historically cheap in this price range, and we feel constructive about taking on risk to buy more BTC here,” Cole said.
Bitcoin traded around $64,400 on Wednesday after moving between approximately $64,000 and $65,000 over the preceding 24 hours. Yahoo Finance data showed BTC closed Aug. 18 at $64,680.71 after reaching an intraday high of $64,987.71.
Strive’s Aug. 17 filing also listed 76.75 million Class A shares and 9.79 million Class B shares outstanding as of Aug. 14. The company reported 7.83 million SATA shares outstanding, unchanged from the previous week.
