Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) climbed to $73,000 in Friday morning trading, and TD Cowen moved fast. The firm issued three new Buy initiations in a single morning, all targeting companies building crypto treasury strategies around Bitcoin and Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH). It’s a coordinated, high-conviction bet on where digital assets are heading by year-end.
TD Cowen’s underlying thesis rests on a year-end Bitcoin price target of $140,000 and a year-end Ethereum target of $3,650. Those are aggressive calls from current levels, but the firm is backing them with fresh analyst coverage across the sector. The initiations sent several small-cap crypto treasury names sharply higher this morning.
Bitcoin is up 3% in the last 24 hours, and Ethereum is near $2,250, up 3.5% in the last 24 hours. TD Cowen’s thesis spans four names across the crypto treasury space.
Strive Leads the Move
Strive, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASST) stock is the biggest mover, up 8% today to $10 after TD Cowen initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a price target of $26, representing 165% upside from Thursday’s close of $9.81. That’s a bold call on a stock that’s down 35% year-to-date.
Strive is the anti-ESG asset management firm co-founded by entrepreneur and politician Vivek Ramaswamy, now operating as a Bitcoin treasury company. The firm has accumulated 13,628 BTC as of March 17, 2026, and reported a Bitcoin Yield of 22% in Q4 2025 with a Bitcoin Dollar Gain of $114.3 million. CEO Matthew Cole has called digital credit a “multi-trillion dollar opportunity.”
Strive’s capital structure is built around its SATA preferred stock, which raised $148.4 million via IPO in November 2025. Ramaswamy’s political profile adds a distinct brand angle to what is otherwise a straightforward Bitcoin accumulation play.
SharpLink Rides the Ethereum Treasury Thesis
SharpLink Gaming (NASDAQ:SBET) stock is up 2% today to $6.55, lifted by TD Cowen’s Buy initiation with a price target of $16, representing 147% upside from Thursday’s close of $6.49. SharpLink is the only Ethereum-focused name in the group, making it differentiated in a sector dominated by Bitcoin treasury strategies.
The firm’s TD Cowen thesis centers on Ethereum accumulation. The analyst projects $93 million in Ethereum dollar gains for SharpLink in fiscal year 2026. SharpLink held 864,597 ETH as of December 31, 2025, making it the world’s second-largest publicly traded Ethereum holder. Staking revenue came in at $15.3 million in Q4 2025, up 49% from Q3’s $10.3 million. SharpLink stock is down 28% year-to-date.
Nakamoto: High Upside, Real Risk
Nakamoto (NASDAQ:NAKA) stock is up 3% today to $0.22 after TD Cowen initiated with a Buy rating and a price target of $1, representing 376% upside from Thursday’s close of $0.21. That target comes with an important asterisk.
Nakamoto has been trading below Nasdaq’s minimum qualifying threshold since late October 2025 and faces potential delisting risk. The company announced Thursday that it is seeking a reverse stock split of 1-for-20 to 1-for-50 share consolidation to address Nasdaq compliance. TD Cowen’s $1 price target implicitly assumes the reverse stock split proceeds. Nakamoto is down 40% year-to-date.
The company holds 5,342 Bitcoin as of December 31, 2025 and owns Bitcoin Magazine and The Bitcoin Conference through its BTC Inc acquisition, completed in February 2026. CEO David Bailey has positioned Nakamoto as a fully integrated Bitcoin operating business, though integration risks and the compliance situation make this the most speculative name of the three initiations.
Strategy: Recalibration, Not Retreat
Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) stock is up 2% today to $131 even as TD Cowen trimmed its price target. The firm reiterated its Buy rating but cut the price target to $350 from $440, citing revised Bitcoin price assumptions, including an estimated Bitcoin gain of $142,000 for 2026. This is a recalibration, not a loss of conviction. TD Cowen still sees meaningful upside from current levels.
Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, holds 713,502 BTC as of February 1, 2026, making it the largest corporate Bitcoin holder by a wide margin. The stock is down 15% year-to-date, but today’s modest gain alongside the broader sector rally suggests the market is treating the target cut as a minor footnote relative to Bitcoin’s recovery.
The prediction market on Bitcoin reaching $140,000 by year-end carries only an 11% implied probability on Polymarket, which puts TD Cowen squarely in the optimist camp. Watch for whether Bitcoin can sustain its push above $73,000 into the weekend close, as that momentum will likely determine whether today’s gains hold across the crypto treasury space.
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