Shares in marketing company Asset Entity (ASST) rose 52% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after shareholders established the Bitcoin financing company by approving a merger with Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive Enterprises.
The asset group said on Tuesday that a “strong majority” of shareholders voted for the merger with plans to raise $1.5 billion to buy Bitcoin (BTC). The new company is Strive, Inc. It will be renamed to and continues trading under the ticker Asst.
Asset Entity rose 17.8% on Tuesday’s closed trading to $6.28, earning shares in stock at $6.28, with the company’s merger announcement over 52% to $9.55 outside of business hours.
Matt Cole, CEO of Strive Enterprise Strive Asset Management, will lead the total company, with Asset Entities CEO and President Arshia Sarkhani serving as Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Officer.
It is not clear what role Ramaswamy, co-founder of Strive, will play in the newly merged company.
The new company is the latest addition to 186 public companies reporting large Bitcoin purchases, growing from under 100 at the beginning of the year, sparking concerns in the oversaturated market.
Strive attempts reverse merger with $1.5 billion in Bitcoin purchase
The trend in public crypto buying companies has encouraged Bitcoin price rallies to $124,450 as companies fund stocks, convertible debt, permanent stocks and, more recently, special purpose acquisitions fund their plans.
Efforts rely on speculative capital rises, dilutions and uncertain trading timelines, so they chose an inverse merger structure that was considered safer than a faster-paced SPAC.
In addition to plans to fund $750 million in Bitcoin purchases from private investments in Public Equity (PIPE), it plans to fund another $750 million in Bitcoin purchases that could result from the exercise of warrants issued in the pipe.
The planned salary increase of $1.5 billion will allow the company to purchase 13,450 Bitcoin at its current market price, which will be placed into the top 10 corporate Bitcoin holding companies.
The termination of the merger depends on certain conditions, such as clearance of Strive’s listing application by NASDAQ Stock Market LLC.
I put my effort into looking at Gox Bitcoin Mountain.
When the merger was announced in May, Strive said it was trying to acquire 75,000 Bitcoins from a claim tied to the collapsed Crypto Exchange Mt. Gox.
Stive said the strategy could help boost the shares per Bitcoin ratio.
However, pursuing Gox Mt. Gox’s claim requires a successful shareholder vote.
Related: Eric Trump scales back role at crypto company Alt5 Sigma
Strive has accumulated $2 billion in assets since it was launched in 2022 by biotechnology entrepreneurs Anson Frericks and Ramaswamy, who ran for president last year and is running for governor of Ohio next year.
Asset Entities is a social media marketing company that has not had an active involvement in the Bitcoin or crypto industry with the announced merger.
Adoption of corporate Bitcoin is a milestone
Public companies currently own a total of 1 million Bitcoin, accounting for 5.1% of the currently in circulation Bitcoin supply.
Michael Saylor’s strategy continues to dominate the Bitcoin accumulation race at 638,460 BTC worth $71.2 billion, while Mara Holdings and XXI will close out the top three with 52,477 BTC and 43,514 BTC.
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