Blockspace Podcast: Why Most Bitcoin Treasury Companies Are Struggling — and the One That's Getting It Right

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4.8 • 689 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matt Cole, CEO of Strive, discusses corporate Bitcoin strategy, amplification tactics, surviving volatility, and why Bitcoin's 30%+ annual returns make it the ultimate hurdle rate for treasury companies in 2025. Matt Cole, Chairman and CEO of Strive Bitcoin Treasury Company joins us to talk about corporate Bitcoin treasury strategies, why he's structurally bullish on 30%+ annual returns, how Strive amplifies Bitcoin exposure through preferred equity without margin requirements, the pivot from ESG pushback to Bitcoin maximalism, and why removing capital gains taxes could make Bitcoin actual money in America. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com **Notes:** • Bitcoin expected 30%+ annual returns over 10-15 years • Strive manages $2B AUM across 13 ETFs • Matt's net worth in Bitcoin since 2016-2017 • 50% drawdowns expected as normal volatility • Preferred equity structure allows riding to $1 • Strategic Bitcoin reserve strengthens USA Timestamps: 00:00 Start 01:44 Vibes at Strive & BTC crashing 04:06 Treasury companies 07:36 What makes a "good" treasury company? 15:12 MSTR needs to catch up to Strive 20:51 Wall Street understanding 26:38 Credit rating innovation 29:59 ESG 35:33 Technical Bitcoin topics 42:15 2026 - 👋Blockspace Podcast is produced Blockspace Media, Bitcoin’s first B2B publication in Bitcoin. Follow us on Twitter and check out our newsletter for the best information in Bitcoin mining, Ordinals and tech! Enjoy the show? Check out our website and newsletter by clicking here. Questions or want to sponsor? [email protected]

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you're going the direction of Bitcoin from a corporate perspective, putting Bitcoin on the
0:04.5	balance sheet and amplifying it that is likely to produce better returns, then really
0:09.4	focusing on cash flowing businesses. If you believe that Bitcoin's going to go up 30% plus per
0:14.5	year. Now, if you don't believe that, then maybe the cash flow business and focusing in that
0:19.0	direction is a better way to maximize returns. But if Bitcoin's been up to the right, it's very hard to beat Bitcoin as a hurdle rate. And so my background being asset management, I always think in hurdle rates. And so like when I was at CalPERS, my hurdle rate was a bond index, the Bloomberg Ag. So every decision I made had to beat that hurdle rate. And for us, if we're setting Bitcoin as
0:39.2	a hurdle rate, frankly, it's just a very hard hurdle rate to beat over the long run. And so we look
0:44.4	at ways to amplify Bitcoin exposure that are only available to corporations. They're not available
0:49.8	to us as individuals or to hedge funds. and then take that long-term view.
0:54.6	And for the next 10, 20 years, our view is just amplified Bitcoin is probably going to be
0:59.1	almost impossible to be if our bold thesis on Bitcoin plays out.
1:05.3	Bitcoin is down.
1:07.3	You knew this.
1:08.4	But did you know that every Bitcoin treasury company is down? Surely not all of
1:13.0	them are going to survive. I've got Matt Cole, the CEO of Strive, on the pod today. He explains
1:19.2	that Strive is structured to survive events like this. This is a really interesting conversation.
1:24.5	Hope you enjoy.
1:37.5	Welcome back to the Blockspace podcast. I've got Matt Cole, chairman and CEO of Stribe, Bitcoin Treasury Company. Matt, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for having me.
1:43.3	Excited for the conversation today.
1:45.0	Yeah.
1:45.2	And today, we're recording this on Friday, the morning of Friday, November 21st, Bitcoin's down.
1:52.2	I'll just throw it right at you.
1:53.8	What is the vibe inside of Strive right now with Bitcoin pulling back, what, like 30%.
	...

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