Strive Posts $509 Million Q3 Profit on Bitcoin Fair-Value Gains
Net unrealized gains on digital assets were $533.7 million in the quarter. The firm bought another 15,124 bitcoin from Oct. 1 through Oct. 30.
Strive, Inc. reported GAAP net income of $509.0 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, or $5.24 per diluted common share, driven mainly by bitcoin marked to fair value, the company said in a GlobeNewswire release Friday.
Net unrealized gains on digital assets at fair value were $533.7 million in the quarter. Total revenues were only $2.7 million, mostly investment advisory fees and medical-device sales, so the profit line reflects fair-value marks on the bitcoin book. Operating cash from fees was a thin slice beside it.
How the bitcoin book moved
Strive is a Nasdaq-listed firm (ticker ASST) that runs a bitcoin treasury alongside an asset-management unit. Under U.S. crypto accounting rules (ASU 2023-08), bitcoin on the balance sheet is carried at fair value, with gains and losses flowing through net income each period. That means a rising bitcoin price can print a large quarterly profit even when operating revenue is small, and the reverse when prices fall.
The company said it acquired 8,136 bitcoin in the third quarter and 20,373 bitcoin in the nine months through Sept. 30. It bought another 15,124 bitcoin from Oct. 1 through Oct. 30. Digital assets stood at about $2.34 billion fair value on Sept. 30. On Oct. 20 it completed a registered offering of 7 million shares of its 15% Series A Perpetual SATS preferred stock for about $609 million in net proceeds.
Chairman and CEO Matthew Cole said in the release that Strive's year-to-date bitcoin yield is, in his view, the main driver of common equity outperformance versus bitcoin this year. Non-GAAP adjusted net income attributable to common stockholders was $494.6 million, or $5.46 per diluted share, after preferred dividends and other adjustments the company defines.
Bitcoin was about $75,920 around noon ET Friday, per CoinGecko.
In our opinion: the $533.7 million fair-value gain did the heavy lifting beside $2.7 million of revenue. A $509 million profit on a fee book that size is the fair-value rule doing what it says on the tin. Readers watching treasury peers can next check how many bitcoin Strive discloses after October's 15,124-coin add when the next balance sheet lands.
Sources: Strive / GlobeNewswire · CoinGecko (Bitcoin)
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