Original｜Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
No one expected that the "coin hoarding strategy," which has always been regarded as a standard by listed companies, would "fail" for the first time. According to SEC documents, the U.S. stock BNB treasury company Windtree Therapeutics (WINT) received notice on August 19 that its common stock would be delisted from the Nasdaq Capital Market and transferred to the OTC market for trading on August 21 due to its stock price remaining below $1 for too long, after multiple reverse splits and not meeting the usual grace period.
As a result of this news, WINT's stock price fell by 77.21%, currently reported at $0.11, a drop of over 99.98% from its price of over $517 a year ago, and even more dismal compared to its peak price of $567,000 per share at the time of its IPO in 2020.
It is worth noting that the company announced in July the establishment of a BNB strategic reserve, which temporarily raised its stock price to $1.28, but due to long-term stock price stagnation and the emergence of concept stocks like the "BNB treasury company CEA" supported by Binance, it ultimately could not escape the fate of delisting.
This incident has also brought a major focus issue in the industry into the public eye: Is the coin hoarding strategy effective for all listed companies? Odaily Planet Daily will analyze this in this article.
The first delisted "BNB strategy listed company" appears, ringing the alarm for the "dual cultivation of coins and stocks" industry
Public information shows that Windtree Therapeutics Inc. (WINT) is a biotechnology company primarily focused on developing innovative therapies for respiratory diseases, particularly drugs for acute lung injury and cardiovascular diseases, such as istaroxime and aerosolized KL 4 surfactant. The company was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Pennsylvania, USA. According to its official website, the final results of its istaroxime Phase 2 clinical trial have been released, but its vision of "addressing significant unmet market needs" is still far from realization.
As a small biopharmaceutical company, multiple medical projects under Windtree Therapeutics Inc. are still in clinical stages, far from commercialization. According to the latest data, the company's net income for the most recent quarter was -$10.64 million, a significant increase in losses compared to -$4.04 million in the previous quarter.
On July 16, the company announced that it had signed a $60 million securities purchase agreement with Build and Build Corp., with the future subscription amount potentially increasing to $200 million, and the related funds will be used to purchase BNB as the company's treasury reserve to achieve asset diversification and value creation. At that time, Windtree sparked market FOMO by claiming to be "the first Nasdaq-listed company to provide direct investment exposure to BNB tokens," with its stock price soaring to $1.86. On July 25, it again stated that it had signed a new financing agreement of $520 million to buy BNB, but the market reaction was tepid, and the stock price gradually fell to around $1.
A month later, what it received was a delisting notice from Nasdaq.
Nasdaq rules take effect, Windtree cannot escape delisting
According to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2), if a listed company's stock price has been below the minimum bid requirement of $1 for 30 consecutive trading days, Nasdaq has the right to delist the company's stock (i.e., forced delisting).
It is worth noting that this is not the first time Nasdaq has issued an "ultimatum" to the company—earlier this year, Nasdaq granted the company a 180-day extension to regain compliance, but it still failed to meet the corresponding requirements on time, thus unable to escape the delisting outcome.
The direct reason for Windtree's delisting may stem from its failure in "ecological niche" competition.
The legitimacy struggle of "BNB treasury companies," Windtree becomes a casualty of competition
One of the most direct reasons for Windtree's delisting is the emergence of better investment targets for "BNB treasury companies" in the market—namely, CEA Industries (later renamed BNB Network Company, stock code BNC), which is supported by Binance.
On July 28, the U.S. listed company CEA Industries and 10 X Capital announced that they would conduct a $500 million private placement to establish a BNB treasury with the support of YZi Labs. It is reported that the two institutions will expand the PIPE issuance scale, with over 140 subscribers participating in this issuance, including investment institutions such as Pantera Capital, Arche Capital, GSR, Borderless, Arrington Capital, Blockchain.com, and Hypersphere Capital.
In early August, CEA Industries announced that it had completed the $500 million private placement and would change its name to "BNB Network Company," with the stock code changing to "BNC" on August 6. YZi Labs led the investment, with over 140 institutions participating, including Pantera Capital and Blockchain.com. At the same time, the company appointed former Galaxy Digital co-founder David Namdar as CEO and former California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Chief Investment Officer Russell Read as Chief Investment Officer.
Thus, the legitimacy struggle of "BNB treasury companies" has reached a temporary conclusion, with BNC emerging as the winner, while WINT has become a "sacrificial pawn."
It is noteworthy that another U.S. listed company focusing on the "BNB treasury company" concept, Nano Labs, also participated in CEA Industries' previous financing, spending nearly $5 million to acquire 495,050 shares of Class A common stock, along with an equal number of 495,050 warrants with an exercise price of $15.15 per share. If all warrants are exercised, Nano Labs will hold up to 990,100 shares of the company. Therefore, Nano Labs, with a BNB holding of 128,000, has instead become one of the backers of BNC, thus remaining in the game.
As of the time of writing, BNC's closing price is reported at $21.02, with a 24-hour increase of 8.8%, and a market capitalization of approximately $895 million; Nano Labs (NA) closing price **is reported at $4.5, with a 24-hour increase of 4.9%, and a market capitalization of approximately $104 million. In comparison, **WINT's market capitalization has fallen to around $3.15 million.
It is said that the marketplace is like a battlefield, and this is especially direct and brutal in the stock market.
Industry warning: The effectiveness of the coin hoarding strategy also requires prerequisites, not a "stock price perpetual motion machine"
From the delisting of Windtree, it is evident that for most listed companies, the coin hoarding strategy is not a "universal key" that drives stock prices to rise continuously. Companies like Strategy and Metaplanet, which have achieved the effect of "dual rise of coins and stocks," have prerequisites for effectiveness. In my view, the following three conditions need to be met:
First, the preferred hoarding target is BTC. As the "only true god" of the cryptocurrency industry, BTC's value is relatively stable and more easily accepted by the market and investors, making the coin hoarding strategy more direct and sustainable in boosting stock prices. After all, the current price of over $110,000 per BTC has not yet reached the target expectations for many traditional and crypto institutions. Looking ahead to the next 5-10 years or even longer, BTC still has an upside expectation of 50% or even over 100%. For cryptocurrencies, it is all about "market dream rate," and BTC's effectiveness in combating inflation, diversifying risks, and boosting expectations is undoubtedly unique.
Second, the uniqueness of ecological niche competition. In the capital market with countless targets, ecological niche competition is undoubtedly brutal. After all, for most industries and investment tracks, the phenomenon of "only knowing the first, not recognizing the second" is too common, especially regarding whether "orthodox institutions" support it or not, which is a completely different concept for market users. Although, in reality, the investment targets may not differ much, the impact on market sentiment and long-term judgment is objectively present. Therefore, if one chooses a hoarding target other than BTC, it is necessary to consider the public recognition, acceptability, and direct influence of the project party regarding the corresponding token.
Third, real business support. Unlike various companies that have recently gone public through reverse mergers, companies like Metaplanet and CanGu Group have real business support, thus having stronger resistance to price fluctuations, technical security, and other risk factors, and are less subject to the regulatory constraints of the stock market and traditional financial market authorities, without having to overly consider risks such as delisting. In simple terms, publicly listed companies that can generate their own revenue have more confidence in buying coins than those relying on financing to buy coins.
The delisting of Windtree is merely a snapshot of the current stage of industry development, while the emergence of "ETH reserve listed companies" like Bitmine and Sharplink may be the true disruptors of the "over-leveraged game," as Ethereum founder Vitalik said. At that time, whether the coin hoarding strategy will become ineffective for listed companies remains to be seen.
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