Strive and MARA both build Bitcoin exposure, but they do so through different businesses—and their latest disclosures do not provide directly comparable balances. Strive reported buying 303 BTC from July 1 through August 7, 2026, but its August 10 results did not state a matching total holding. MARA reported 35,577 BTC at June 30, 2026, including 9,270 BTC that was loaned or pledged. Those figures describe different dates and different kinds of information.
How do Strive and MARA’s business models differ?
Strive describes itself as a structured-finance company focused on balance-sheet management and Bitcoin treasury growth. Its investor profile says it uses Bitcoin as a capital-allocation hurdle rate. MARA Holdings, by contrast, is a Bitcoin miner building a broader digital-infrastructure platform; its FY2025 filing says mining remains the foundation of its 2026 strategy.
The distinction matters: Strive’s reported activity centers on acquiring Bitcoin and financing its treasury, while MARA mines Bitcoin and also manages, lends, pledges, or sells digital assets. Comparing their BTC totals alone misses how each company obtains and uses those assets.
How much Bitcoin did each company report?
| Company | Latest located disclosure | What it says about Bitcoin | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strive | Results released August 10, 2026 | Acquired 6,236 BTC in Q2 2026, 12,237 BTC in H1 2026, and another 303 BTC from July 1 through August 7, 2026. | These are acquisition flows, not a point-in-time total holding. The release excerpt does not state Strive’s total BTC balance as of August 7. |
| MARA | Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, filed August 6, 2026 | Reported 35,577 BTC at June 30, 2026. | This is a dated balance, and 9,270 BTC was loaned or pledged rather than unrestricted. |
Strive’s reported H1 purchases and subsequent purchases should not be added to an older treasury figure and presented as a current balance: purchases, sales, and other balance movements would need to be accounted for. MARA’s June 30 balance and Strive’s acquisition disclosures also have different cutoff dates, so they are not an apples-to-apples snapshot.
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Sources: Strive’s Q2 2026 results and MARA’s Q2 2026 Form 10-Q.
Are MARA’s Bitcoin holdings unrestricted?
No. MARA’s Q2 2026 shareholder letter divides its June 30 balance into 26,307 unrestricted BTC, 4,742 loaned BTC, and 4,528 BTC pledged as collateral. The loaned and pledged amounts add up to 9,270 BTC, the portion identified in the company’s filing as subject to its digital-asset-management activities.
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“Unrestricted” is not the same as a promise to sell, and the loaned or pledged amounts should not be treated as immediately available cash. The breakdown describes the status disclosed for June 30, 2026; it is not a live balance.
Sources: MARA’s Q2 2026 shareholder letter and Form 10-Q.
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Does MARA sell its Bitcoin?
Yes. MARA’s policy has changed. Its FY2025 filing says it moved from historically holding the Bitcoin it mined to allowing sales of mined BTC in 2025. In 2026, it also permitted sales of Bitcoin already on its balance sheet, subject to market conditions and capital priorities. The filing describes lending, structured trading arrangements, and collateralized financing as other ways it may activate its holdings.
That policy does not mean every BTC balance is routinely sold or freely available. Sales depend on the company’s stated conditions and priorities, while some holdings may be loaned or pledged.
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Source: MARA’s FY2025 Form 10-K.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How does Strive fund its Bitcoin purchases?
Strive says its financing approach includes SATA, its variable-rate perpetual preferred stock. The company’s stated aim is to provide cash flows to SATA investors while capturing a spread between SATA’s financing cost and potential long-term Bitcoin returns. That is management’s intended strategy, not a guaranteed spread or investment result.
In its August 10, 2026 results, Strive also reported retiring all short- and long-term debt and having no such debt outstanding as of August 7. It reported $154.9 million in cash and cash equivalents on that date. Separately, it reported a $48.0 million fair value for its position in STRC, a preferred stock issued by Strategy Inc. STRC is neither Bitcoin nor a security issued by Strive.
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Source: Strive’s Q2 2026 results.
What does MARA’s earlier Bitcoin record show?
MARA’s FY2025 report provides a useful historical reference, but not a substitute for its later June 2026 balance. For the year ended December 31, 2025, the company reported mining 8,799 BTC and acquiring another 4,267 BTC at an average price of $111,034. It ended that year with 53,822 BTC. By June 30, 2026, it reported 35,577 BTC.
The figures are company-reported, and the year-end and midyear balances are snapshots at different dates. They do not, by themselves, explain every movement between those dates.
Source: MARA’s FY2025 Form 10-K.
How should you compare their Bitcoin strategies?
- Business engine: Strive emphasizes structured finance and treasury growth; MARA combines mining with digital infrastructure.
- Accumulation: Strive’s latest cited disclosure gives purchase flows through August 7, 2026. MARA both mines and buys Bitcoin, with its FY2025 report quantifying those separate flows.
- Liquidity and monetization: Strive reports preferred-equity financing and debt retirement; MARA has disclosed selling Bitcoin as well as lending and collateralizing it.
- What the headline number means: MARA’s 35,577 BTC is a June 30 balance that includes loaned and pledged coins. Strive’s reported recent purchases do not establish a comparable total balance.
All figures above are company-reported and dated; later activity may have changed them. For Strive’s stewardship initiative, announced July 22, 2026, see its Bitcoin Stewardship Commitment, which describes initial support for open-source Bitcoin development through Brink. That initiative is distinct from the company’s treasury and financing decisions.
This comparison describes the companies’ disclosed strategies; it does not determine whether either company’s common stock or preferred securities are suitable for a particular investor.
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