Key Highlights:
- Forward Industries has secured $1.65 billion in cash and stablecoin through public equity.
- This move is Forward Industries’ first institutional scale treasury focused on Solana.
- Strong backing from Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital
Forward Industries (NASDAQ: FORD) has announced a $1.65 billion private investment in public equity (PIPE) round, with cash and stablecoin commitments that are backed by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital. The funding will help the company launch a Solana-based treasury strategy, which is one of the biggest moves yet by a corporation into blockchain assets.
Kyle Samani, co-founder of Multicoin Capital, will be the Chairman of Forward’s Board of Directors upon closing of the public equity.
A Big Bet on Solana
The PIPE round is something that is marking Forward Industries’ entry into the digital asset space. This move is, however, an unusual step for any traditional public company as of now. Most of the companies from the industry choose to diversify into cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, following the suits of pioneers such as Strategy (formerly known as MicroStrategy), Forward’s choice of moving forward with Solana indicates the trust company has in the blockchain’s speed, scalability and active developer base.
“I have been one of the earliest and loudest champions of Solana since Multicoin first led the seed round back in 2018. Solana is still widely misunderstood and discounted by market participants, despite the fact that it has been resilient through adversarial cycles and continues to be one of the most performant general-purpose blockchains. I believe this asymmetry creates tremendous opportunity for a Solana treasury strategy,” said Mr. Samani. “Real economic value is being generated on Solana. An institutional-scale treasury can be deployed in sophisticated ways within the Solana ecosystem to create differentiated value and increase SOL per share at a faster rate than simply being a passive holder. As expected Chairman, I look forward to stewarding the Company and helping shape the corporate strategy to take advantage of this significant opportunity.”
Forward’s current move indicates that it truly believes in the power of the blockchain and trusts it to be a reliable system for handling global finance.
Role of major Backers
There are various groups that are backing the funding process and they are bringing in expertise from different parts of the industry. Let’s quickly have a look at them:
- Galaxy Digital: This firm is a well-known digital asset firm that will be helping Forward manage its treasury and will be making sure that it is safe, liquid and it follows all regulatory guidelines.
- Jump Crypto: This firm is a leading trading and infrastructure player in the blockchain industry and it will be supporting execution, validating operations and will carry out liquidity provisioning for Solana-based assets.
- Multicoin Capital: This firm is well-known for its early and ever green support of the Solana ecosystem. It will bring in deep investment expertise and strategic insights. It could help guide Forward on where to invest, how to participate in governance, and how to stake assets in the future.
Impact of Forward Industries’ Solana Treasury Strategy
This move by Forward Industries is the company’s first major move into the digital asset treasuries space. The market has reacted positively to this news.
As soon as the news broke out, the shares of Forward Industries surged by approximately 118% in pre-market trading as per CNBC and the price of $SOL (Solana’s native cryptocurrency) managed to experience an uptick of approximately 5% in the last 24 hours as per CoinMarketCap.
At press time, the price of $SOL token stands at $213.84 with an uptick of 5.22% in the last 24 hours as per CoinMarketCap.
According to More Crypto Online on X (formerly known as Twitter), the bullish outlook for Solana is being supported by strong momentum and key resistance breakouts.
The current price has already surpassed initial barriers which were around $210-$218 and the next major resistance to watch is the $218-$220 zone. If the price of the token surpasses above this level, it is likely that the price of the token will rise somewhere around $227. However, rejection at these barriers could lead to a downfall and the price might hit the $185 mark.
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