Solana treasury strategy faces changes, purchasing at a 10% discount from the foundation, with multiple crypto VCs actively organizing

Author: Nancy, PANews

After Bitcoin and Ethereum first opened the growth flywheel through treasury strategies, many altcoins have rushed to follow suit. Currently, Solana is also accelerating its entry into the institutional adoption fast lane. As more crypto giants announce their entry with low-priced chips and massive funds, its market confidence and capital driving force may welcome a new round of amplification.

SOL Treasury Strategy Set to Accelerate Implementation, Foundation Discounts “Purchases”

Over the past year, the models of Bitcoin treasury companies led by Strategy and Ethereum reserve enterprises represented by BitMine have been successfully validated in the market, attracting a large influx of capital. Now, this trend is rapidly extending to the Solana ecosystem, with a batch of emerging SOL DAT (crypto asset treasury) preparing to enter the market.

On August 25, Sharps Technology, a publicly listed company in the U.S., announced the completion of over $400 million in PIPE private financing, aiming to create the world’s largest Solana digital asset treasury. This round of financing attracted participation from several well-known institutions, including ParaFi, Pantera, Monarq, FalconX, Phoenix Capital, RockawayXa, and Primitive Ventures. Additionally, Sharps signed a letter of intent with the Solana Foundation to subscribe for $50 million of SOL at a 15% discount to the 30-day average price.

Following Sharps’ actions, it was reported that Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital are negotiating with potential supporters to raise about $1 billion for the purchase of SOL, planning to establish a digital asset fund management company through the acquisition of an undisclosed publicly listed company. According to Bloomberg, these companies have hired Cantor Fitzgerald as the lead underwriter, with the transaction expected to be completed in early September.

It is worth noting that Galaxy Digital was one of the first buyers of SOL locked by FTX, having raised $620 million last year to set up a dedicated fund for acquiring SOL tokens sold during FTX’s bankruptcy. This year, they also conducted a large-scale asset swap, converting over $100 million worth of ETH into SOL. Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital are also important supporters of the Solana ecosystem, with the former actively participating in ecosystem liquidity support and the latter being an early institutional investor with deep investments in the Solana ecosystem.

Meanwhile, Pantera Capital is planning a project of up to $1.25 billion to transform a publicly listed company into a Solana investment company, completing fundraising in two phases: first raising $500 million, then supplementing with $750 million in warrants.

As an early investment institution in Solana, Pantera holds a large number of low-cost chips. It was previously reported that in 2024, it invested $250 million to acquire a large amount of SOL from the FTX Estate at a discounted price of $59.95 (subject to a four-year vesting period) and also purchased about 2,000 SOL tokens at $64 from the auction of FTX’s bankruptcy assets. Prior to this, Pantera Capital disclosed that it had invested over $300 million in DAT companies, including Sharplink Gaming, Twenty One Capital, DeFi Development Corp, and Sharps Technology.

It can be seen that these important institutional supporters of Solana are concentrating their layouts, not only with considerable capital scale but also with chip advantages, and have received official support from the Solana Foundation, allowing them to maintain strategic flexibility amid market fluctuations while promoting ecosystem expansion and new capital entry, thereby further enhancing Solana’s liquidity and market recognition. However, these institutions hold a large amount of locked SOL chips, and there may be certain market risks associated with exchanging liquidity and stock prices through DAT.

Stock and Coin Prices Perform Flatly, Insufficient Increase Scale and Appeal

With the fervent emotions brought by the coin-stock concept, many reserve listed companies’ stock prices have soared, and coin prices have risen in tandem. However, the stock price performance of leading Solana reserve companies has been relatively flat. In the past month, Upexi’s stock price rose by 29.25%, DeFi Development fell by 12.59%, and Phoenix Group increased by about 6.63%; SOL Strategies saw a decline of 29.25%.

At the same time, the performance of SOL coin prices has also been lackluster. Over the past year, SOL has only risen by 17.9%, far below Bitcoin’s 73.2% and Ethereum’s 62.3% during the same period, and is significantly less impressive compared to the market performance during the previous MEME frenzy, indicating that the existing Solana reserve companies have limited uplifting effects on SOL.

The reasons for this situation are mainly constrained by the scale of increases and market appeal.

On one hand, the increase scale of existing Solana reserve companies is still relatively limited, and most belong to emerging players. Although several listed companies have begun to lay out Solana strategic reserves, there are only a handful of companies with holdings exceeding $10 million. According to public data, Upexi holds over 2 million SOL, valued at over $377 million; DeFi Development holds over 1.42 million SOL, valued at over $267 million; Phoenix Group holds over 630,000 SOL, valued at nearly $119 million; and SOL Strategies holds close to 401,000 SOL, valued at over $75.6 million. Large-scale increases and endorsements from well-known institutions often convey strong market signals, thereby amplifying investor psychological expectations. In other words, the larger the capital scale and the higher the exposure, the more significant its market influence, which can effectively drive coin price performance.

Secondly, Solana lacks influential figures like Michael Saylor, the founder of Strategy in the Bitcoin space, or Tom Lee, the chairman of BitMine in the Ethereum space, who have strong appeal. Saylor and Lee not only possess capital strength but also transform institutional strategies into market confidence through public speaking, media influence, and personal branding, creating a replicable investment effect.

Currently, Solana reserve companies lack individuals or institutional brands with the same level of appeal and voice, making it difficult to form a confidence premium. Upexi attempted to enhance its influence by inviting BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes to serve on its advisory board, hoping to leverage his recognition in the crypto circle. However, Hayes’ main influence remains concentrated in the crypto trading field, and his reputation and resources in traditional capital markets are limited, making it difficult to create a cross-market guiding effect. In contrast, CEO Novogratz, who successfully led Galaxy to go public on NASDAQ, is seen as an ideal candidate, having worked in traditional finance for over thirty years, previously at Goldman Sachs and Fortress, accumulating rich expertise and extensive networks.

However, the Solana reserve market has yet to form a leading “micro-strategy,” which means there is still considerable narrative space within the entire ecosystem, potentially attracting more institutional investors to participate. The increasing probability of Solana’s spot ETF approval will also enhance market confidence in SOL and related reserve companies, thereby amplifying the positive effects of capital entry.

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