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Strive CEO Matt Cole took the unusual step of putting corporate issuance policy to a public vote on June 30, asking shareholders on X whether the company should temporarily stop issuing new $SATA shares at the $100 price point. The reason: short sellers have been feasting on the instrument’s built-in price ceiling, and Cole wants to know if shareholders would prefer to pull the rug out from under them.
The move comes after short interest in $SATA climbed by roughly 1 million shares over the prior 30 days. Borrow costs for the stock hit approximately 70% APR. Cole’s argument is straightforward: automatically minting new shares every time $SATA touches $100 effectively caps the upside, handing short sellers a gift-wrapped trade.
What is $SATA and why does it matter
$SATA is Strive’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock. Instead of fixed coupon payments and a maturity date, it pays adjustable daily dividends, currently running at an annualized rate of around 13%, designed to keep the trading price hovering near $100.
In English: Strive buys Bitcoin with the proceeds from selling $SATA shares, then pays investors a yield high enough to make them comfortable holding the instrument rather than just buying Bitcoin directly.
The instrument debuted with an upsized IPO between November 5 and 10, 2025, when Strive sold 2 million shares at $80 apiece. That offering raised between $149 million and $160 million, capital that went straight toward building the company’s Bitcoin treasury.
As of late June 2026, Strive holds approximately 19,864 BTC, using preferred share structures like $SATA to finance Bitcoin acquisitions without incurring traditional debt.
The short seller problem
The 1 million share increase in short interest over just 30 days tells that story plainly. Short sellers weren’t deterred by the cost. They were emboldened by the mechanics.
Cole’s poll is essentially asking: should we remove the ceiling and let the market decide where $SATA trades? Suspending issuance at $100 would eliminate the automatic supply increase, potentially allowing the price to float higher and squeezing shorts who positioned based on the assumption that $100 was an impenetrable wall.
$SATA’s price dipped to the low $90s in late June 2026 before rebounding, showing that the instrument isn’t immune to the broader volatility that shook digital assets during the same period.
What this means for investors
For $SATA holders, the implications are tangible. If issuance is suspended, the instrument could trade above $100 for the first time, driven by constrained supply and forced short covering, though how dramatic it would be depends on how quickly short sellers can unwind their positions given the already punishing 70% APR borrow rate.
The risk for investors is that suspending issuance fundamentally changes $SATA’s value proposition. The $100 peg isn’t just a ceiling, it’s also an anchor. Remove the automatic issuance and you might get upside, but you also introduce more price volatility, which is exactly what the instrument was designed to minimize.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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