Strive chief investment officer Ben Werkman is advocating that Bitcoin treasury companies adopt a single, Bitcoin-denominated metric—BTC Yield—as the primary scorecard for capital decisions. In commentary made on October 31, 2026, Werkman said the measure should steer when companies issue new equity and how they make strategic investments, including Bitcoin purchases backed by preferred stock.
What BTC Yield Measures
BTC Yield tracks how fast a company’s Bitcoin holdings grow on a per-share basis. It ignores the total stack and instead asks how much Bitcoin sits behind each share. According to Werkman, if selling new shares to buy Bitcoin raises the amount of Bitcoin per share, the deal benefits existing holders. If it shrinks that figure, existing shareholders are effectively subsidizing new ones.
Werkman framed the metric as a way to position Strive’s common stock to perform well relative to Bitcoin itself, and as essential for reaching long-term financial goals in a market known for sharp volatility.
Strive’s Reported Figures
Strive reports its own BTC Yield at 63% year-to-date, meaning each share now represents meaningfully more Bitcoin than at the start of the year. The company’s Bitcoin holdings have reached 43,124 BTC, according to its most recent reported figures, making it the fourth-largest Bitcoin holder among public companies.
Strive also reports an amplification ratio that has ranged between 55% and over 60% in recent quarterly reports, with figures cited as high as 63%.
The firm’s broader model relies on what it calls a digital credit structure, pairing high-yield perpetual preferred equity products with a substantial Bitcoin reserve. The goal, as the company presents it, is to generate consistent income for preferred investors while managing risk, with the Bitcoin reserve acting as the backstop behind those income-producing securities. CEO Matt Cole has described Bitcoin as the company’s benchmark for performance.
Background and Sector Implications
Werkman joined Strive as CIO in October 2025. His résumé includes a directing role at Swan Bitcoin and founding NumerisX.
Bitcoin treasury firms raise money through stock and preferred share sales, then convert much of it into Bitcoin. The hard question for these companies has always been how to judge whether a capital raise was a good idea. A firm can buy a large amount of Bitcoin and still leave shareholders worse off if it issued too many shares to fund it. BTC Yield is one answer to that problem, forcing management to justify every issuance by its effect on per-share Bitcoin exposure rather than by headline accumulation.
For investors holding or evaluating these stocks, broader adoption of BTC Yield could provide a common yardstick for comparing very different capital strategies. However, the metric has limits. It is measured in Bitcoin, not dollars, so a company can post a strong BTC Yield in a year when Bitcoin falls sharply—shareholders would own more Bitcoin per share, but each coin would be worth less in dollar terms. The metric also says nothing direct about the obligations a company takes on to grow its stack, such as perpetual preferred shares that pay high yields and create ongoing payment commitments that do not shrink when Bitcoin’s price does.
Werkman’s framework is ultimately an argument about alignment: common shareholders want more Bitcoin per share, preferred holders want reliable income, and management must serve both. Using BTC Yield as the deciding test for issuance gives that balancing act a clear rule. For now, Strive has put both a number and a philosophy on the table, and other treasury firms may find it harder to avoid reporting the same figure if investors start asking for it by name.
