Strive invested $4 million to start up RIA in 2024 but may pull plug this year because of 'de minimis' success -- and a bigger fish to fry, a filing shows

Strive Asset Management's highly-charged, hard-to-figure, and expensive RIA startup may be “disposed of” before it ever really gets rolling – an apparent consequence of the ruthless, free-enterprise mindset it embraced as its theme. 

The ETF company is largely owned by Vivek Ramaswamy, an Ohio gubernatorial candidate, billionaire and former presidential candidate, and the financial concern is predominantly an asset manager of anti-ESG ETFs. 

The closing is scheduled to happen by year's end, and has a “mad-scientist” twist. See: Vivek Ramaswamy jumps on the next new thing, a Bitcoin treasury company, with a 'mad science' twist -- a reverse merger and tax-advantaged investments to build a $1 billion crypto horde

The Ramaswamy alchemy is to take Strive public and use share proceeds to buy enough Bitcoin (BTC)  to create a treasury, which accumulates Bitcoin on its balance sheet, allowing clients to indirectly invest in the cryptocurrency. 

It has all the makings of a moonshot, because one-in-four public Bitcoin treasury companies now trade at market capitalizations below their BTC holdings, according to K33 Research. Enthusiasm is cooling for corporate crypto accumulation strategies as treasury firm premiums compress across the sector.

But if successful, the plan would make most any RIAs' revenues seem paltry. See: Vivek Ramaswamy's 'pure insanity' plan achieves liftoff -- fueled by mysterious investors and unmysterious sweeteners -- using other people's money and another company's public listing to create a 'Bitcoin treasury'

Targeted message

“[Bitcoin allocations] hedge against risks Strive expects to persist over the next several decades, including unsustainable global debt levels, rising fixed-income yields, long-run inflationary pressures, persistent geopolitical pressures, and potential restrictive monetary controls,” the company wrote last year in its Strive RIA startup release.

"[It] differentiates our Wealth Management business from nearly all major competitors today," it states. 

But Andrew Besheer, principal of Besheer & Associates, said in an email about the niche description that the Bitcoin pitch never really sounded all that differentiated. 

“It feels like it was a message aimed at the demographics (young men, crypto enthusiasts) that the [Trump presidential] campaign is counting on to get them over the finish line more than any actual statement about doing something new, different, or better in wealth management,” he said. 

De-minimis

AssetEntities, the Nasdaq-listed corporation proposing to merge with Strive, revealed the decision in a 440-page letter to shareholders. See: Vivek Ramaswamy $30-million venture launches wealth RIA --- just ahead of the election -- and dumps Columbus, Ohio for 'economic advantages' of Dallas

Strive, will “sell or otherwise dispose of or wind-down the Strive Wealth Business to certain officers and employees,” the letter stated. 

Strive is offloading – or shuttering – its RIA because it is a trifle in the grander scheme. 

“The Company plans to divest of the wealth management business, which represented a de-minimis portion of the Company’s  operations during the year ended Dec. 31, 2024,” reads the Aug. 22 shareholder letter, first noted by Citywire, 

De Minimis means “too trivial or minor to merit consideration, especially in law.” according to the Oxford dictionary.

Slim pickings

Yet ‘de minimis’ may be a relative term. 

It's not as if Strive Wealth revealed many signs of prosperity in its early months in existence.

The Strive Wealth SEC ADV lists zero assets under management as of March 2025. It also lists eight staffers, including five people acting in an advisory capacity.

The AssetEntities letter, however, suggests that there was some revenue coming from the RIA.

“Investment advisory fees [for Strive ETFs plus the RIA] increased by $1.3 million, or 80.4%, to $2.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025 from $1.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024,” it reads.

“This increase was driven by the launch of a wealth management offering in late 2024, which led to an increase in investment advisory fees of approximately $0.8 million.”

The $800,000 in Strive Wealth revenues for six months would represent an AUM of about $160 million if the fee were the classic 1%. Strive declined to list a specific fee in its ADV 2, saying fees are negotiated case-by-case.

Consuming capital

The politician and businessman smelled the RIA opportunity last year.

“The moment is now ripe to launch a pro-capitalism wealth-management business focused on true financial freedom, with a focus on integrating Bitcoin into standard portfolios,” he said at the time.

The RIA startup, however, seemed to absorb considerable startup capital, according to the shareholder letter. Stive's overall expenses in 2024 ballooned 60%, or $4.2 million, which it attributed entirely to the startup.

“This increase was primarily due to an increase in legal expenses of $3.2 million related to the launch of the wealth management business line in late 2024, regulatory compliance consultations, and general counsel representation,” it reads.

“There was also an increase of $1 million related to various consulting services, such as trade management consulting and advice related to the launch of the wealth management business,” it adds.

By entering wealth management in Dallas, Strive was sure to encounter competition, but its asserted ace was its unique market segmenting.

It sought free-enterprise investors and, in particular, those seeking to hold larger allocations of Bitcoin than other fiduciaries do in their portfolios to hedge coming global financial meltdowns.