Public companies have launched a $500 million "buy-buy-buy" mode, and SOL has become the next BTC for MicroStrategy.

Written by: Penny

On April 23, 2025, Canadian public company SOL Strategies Inc. announced that it has signed an independent agreement with ATW Partners on the same day to establish a financing mechanism for convertible notes of up to $500 million. The funds raised will be specifically used to purchase SOL tokens, which will be staked through validator nodes directly operated by SOL Strategies, with the generated income to be shared by both parties.

According to the financing mechanism released by the company, the first batch of convertible notes will be issued with a total principal of $20 million, and subsequently, up to $480 million can be withdrawn in batches based on specific conditions. The first delivery is expected to be completed around May 1, 2025, with the exact timing depending on the usual delivery conditions. Under this innovative structure, the interest on the notes will be paid in SOL tokens, calculated as 85% of the staking rewards generated by the SOL tokens purchased through this mechanism and staked by SOL Strategies.

Who is SOL Strategies?

SOL Strategies Inc., formerly known as Cypherpunk Holdings Inc., was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It was listed on the Italian Stock Exchange in 1998 and moved to the Canadian Stock Exchange in 2012, with the ticker symbol HODL.

On July 9, 2024, Leah Wald was appointed as the CEO. Under her leadership, the company will fully focus on the Solana blockchain ecosystem, listing the SOL token as a core asset on the balance sheet, operating cutting-edge validation nodes, and developing comprehensive intelligent staking tools. To reflect this strategic transformation, the company officially changed its name from Cypherpunk Holdings Inc. to SOL Strategies Inc. on September 9, 2024. At the end of 2024, the company submitted a listing application to Nasdaq, but the listing process has not yet been completed. Currently, its stock is still trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange and on the U.S. OTC market under the code CYFRF.

After establishing the transformation goals, SOL Strategies began increasing its holdings in Solana assets, reducing its exposure to Bitcoin, and disposing of other non-core assets. According to its Q1 2025 financial report, as of now, the SOL holdings have risen from zero to 267,151 coins, while Bitcoin holdings have gradually decreased from 215.37 coins on September 30, 2023, to 56.25 coins on September 30, 2024, and further reduced to the current 3.21 coins, reflecting a strategic shift of resources towards Solana ecosystem projects. In addition, the company has completely divested its shares in Animoca Brands, realizing a profit of $1.8 million, and has reallocated funds from the sale of other non-core assets to its core business areas.

In addition to swapping core assets, SOL Strategies has also made significant progress and stable growth in the acquisition of validator nodes, revenue, and staking business.

As of March 3, 2025, the company's staked SOL tokens for verification nodes reached 1,653,752, an increase of 1434% compared to the end of 2024, of which the company's own SOL tokens account for 239,607. These verification nodes are optimally designed, featuring high scalability, high availability, and competitive yields, ensuring operational efficiency;

In terms of the growth of staking business income, among the 239,623 SOL tokens held by SOL Strategies, 239,607 tokens are specifically staked in its self-operated high-performance validator nodes, achieving a significant growth of 137% compared to the staking amount of 101,200 tokens as of September 30, 2024. These staked SOL tokens generate an annualized staking yield of 12,800 SOL, with an average annualized return rate of about 7% for the validator nodes.

In terms of validator node income, starting from January 1, 2025 (the first day SOL Strategies fully controls the three major Solana validator nodes), the annualized income of the validator nodes reaches 26,512 SOL. This income comes from the commissions generated by the SOL tokens entrusted to SOL Strategies' high-performance validator nodes by the company and third parties.

With publicly listed companies flocking to invest, is the spring of Solana coming?

Perhaps influenced by Canada's approval of the staking-based SOL ETF, a large amount of capital has flowed into the SOL ecosystem this week, and SOL Strategies is not the first company to implement a "SOL version of MicroStrategy."

On April 21, cryptocurrency trading and investment company GSR announced leading a $100 million equity private placement in the Nasdaq-listed company Upexi, Inc. Upexi is a brand owner focused on the development, manufacturing, and distribution of consumer goods. This investment follows Upexi's announcement of a strategic shift to a cryptocurrency-based financial strategy, aimed at creating long-term value and returns for shareholders. Upexi has committed to developing a Solana financial strategy, which includes increasing and staking Solana. Subsequently, Upexi's stock price surged by 659.91%, reaching $17.25, reflecting the market's positive attitude towards the Solana strategy.

In addition, on April 22 local time, DeFi Development Corporation (NASDAQ: JNVR) announced the purchase of 88,164 SOL tokens, worth approximately $11.5 million. On April 23, it purchased another 65,305 SOL, worth $9.9 million, bringing the total holdings to 317,273 SOL, valued at $48.2 million.

As the largest pure Solana ecological listed company in North America, SOL Strategies has established a broader pathway between traditional finance and blockchain innovation, providing investors with compliant and scalable Solana ecological investment channels, which can continuously support the development and expansion of the Solana ecosystem.

SOL Strategies is strategically similar to Micro Strategy. Micro Strategy has become an avenue for investors to invest indirectly in Bitcoin by holding Bitcoin in large quantities as a core asset on their balance sheet. Similarly, SOL Strategies offers investors the opportunity to invest indirectly in Solana by holding SOL and operating validators, both of which provide exposure to cryptocurrencies for traditional investors through publicly traded companies.

But SOL Strategies is not just about holding SOL; it actively participates in the Solana ecosystem by operating validation nodes and investing in Solana projects to gain additional returns. This active participation in the SOL ecosystem can, in turn, feed back into the company's asset value. As SOL Strategies CEO Leah Wald said, SOL Strategies is the largest funding mechanism of its kind in the Solana ecosystem, where every investment made will generate immediate returns, simultaneously enhancing the company’s assets and supporting the development of validation node operations.

The new minting machine of Solana seems to be starting to move. The SOL ETF has been approved in Canada, and the expectations for the SOL ecosystem are gradually improving. The meme sector is becoming increasingly active, and traditional financial capital is flooding in. Whether it’s the $500 million funding for SOL Strategies or GSR's $100 million investment in UPXI, or the DeFi Development Corporation purchasing over $20 million worth of SOL within two days, all indicate a broader development space for the Solana ecosystem in the future. When will the SOL ecosystem usher in its second spring? Let's wait and see.