Strive purchased 6,182 bitcoin last week for $511.4 million at an average price of $82,732 per coin, while Strategy completed zero bitcoin acquisitions during the same period, according to a regulatory filing.
The purchase brought Strive's total bitcoin holdings to 43,000 coins. Strategy, which has been one of the two most active corporate bitcoin buyers, did not resume purchasing despite prices remaining near recent peaks. Strategy, historically the larger of the two acquirers, sat on the sidelines while a competitor moved aggressively.
Strive, the bitcoin-focused firm backed by Greyscale, has steadily built its position. The 6,182-coin purchase represented roughly 14 percent of Strive's total holdings added in a single week. At current market prices near $82,000, the company's 43,000-coin position stands worth approximately $3.5 billion, though prices have moved since the purchase.
Strategy's pause comes as the firm announced it is using capital for other purposes. The company said it would repurchase $205 million of its preferred shares, redirecting resources away from spot bitcoin acquisitions. Strategy had been the consistent buyer through 2024 and 2025, typically purchasing weekly in volumes between 3,000 and 8,000 coins.
Both firms operate as exchange-traded products designed to track or hold bitcoin directly, competing for retail and institutional capital by marketing their holdings to investors who want exposure to the asset without custody complexity. Their purchasing patterns have become watched metrics in the bitcoin community.
Strive deployed capital across five trading days between October 17 and October 23. The consistency of its buying, combined with Strategy's simultaneous withdrawal, reflects divergent cash positioning or valuation views between the two largest such competitors. Strive added more than 6,000 coins in a single week for the first time since June.
The spread between the two firms' activity widened sharply in a market where weekly institutional purchases historically moved in lock step. If Strategy's purchasing remains paused through the end of October, it will mark the longest stretch without major acquisitions since the firm began its systematic bitcoin buying program.
