ASST Jumps Toward Best Month In Over A Year As BTC Holdings Grow, But Analyst Warns ‘Sell The Stock, Buy Bitcoin’

Shares of Strive Inc. (ASST) gained more than 7.5% at close on Thursday and continued to climb higher after the company posted a strong quarterly print earlier this month and continued to shore up its Bitcoin (BTC) reserves amid its rising price.

The stock is on track to post its best monthly gains since May 2025.

However, some market participants are wary of Strive’s strategy, with prominent Bitcoin commentator and Head of Business Development at Zaprite, Parker Lewis, saying in a post on X that the "hurdle rate" for Strive is “literally the equivalent of holding bitcoin.”

Hurdle rate refers to the minimum rate of return that a company or investor must make on an investment to justify its risk and cost.

“This should concern every Strive shareholder,” Lewis said. “But there's lots and lots of incremental risk to investing in the stock and the stock trades at a nearly 90% premium to bitcoin NAV. Sell the stock, buy bitcoin,” he added.

Strive CEO Pushes Back 

Strive CEO Matt Cole pushed back against the criticism, while owning that “Bitcoin is our hurdle rate.”

In a response post on X, Cole said, “$ASST has outperformed $BTC since strategy announcement in May '25, YTD 2026, & since Parker Lewis was diagnosed with Saylor Derangement Syndrome in June.”