Forward Industries (FORD), an obscure, US-based designer of products for medical and technology firms, has just raised an impressive US$1.65 billion through a private investment in public equity (PIPE) in order to build a treasury of Solana, the namesake cryptocurrency of a disrupter blockchain. In the blockchain space, Solana is known as a high-performance public blockchain platform that provides fast transaction speeds and low fees for developers and users, especially in comparison to some of the older public blockchains such as Ethereum. The blockchain is gaining traction for hosting real world assets such as US equities and tokenized real estate. Solana holders can earn passive income through staking and earn generous yield through liquidity provision on DeFi platforms.
FORD’s public raise – if fully implemented to build a Solana treasury – would make the firm the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency. The company said its strategy aims to generate on-chain returns and increase long-term shareholder value through active participation in Solana’s decentralized finance markets. FORD’s stock jumped 128% on the news.
While obscure, the company is not new. It was founded some 60 years ago. The company is following a fast growing trend of corporations diversifying out of inflationary cash to what they see as a better store of value and income generator as financial infrastructure moves rapidly onchain.