Solana infrastructure and treasury firm SOL Strategies sees itself as an underdog in an increasingly crowded market of publicly traded crypto businesses and digital asset treasuries—but it doesn’t mind.
Shares in the Canadian-based venture went live for trading on the Nasdaq Exchange on Tuesday, increasing its exposure to investors beyond the Canadian Stock Exchange and OTC markets where it previously traded.
Though shares finished the trading day up 7.5% to $7.37 on Friday, they ended the week down 43% from the debut.
“I do see us as an underdog,” SOL Strategies CEO Leah Wald told Decrypt. “We are a tiny technology company out there in a sea of technology companies.”
Wald, who became the firm’s CEO in July 2024 after years of working in the crypto industry, said she appreciates the opportunity to take the fight to larger and better established firms in the space.
"Being underestimated is absolutely an advantage. It gives us room to execute and focus on building without the distractions that come with being overhyped," she said. “In crypto, being underestimated often means you’re doing something right. The market rewards substance over hype in the long run, and that’s exactly where we want to be positioned.”
In that effort, the firm has positioned itself as a core contributor to the Solana ecosystem, operating a validator business that earns yield from assets delegated or staked to its validators.
Based on its August business update, it now has 3.6 million SOL delegated to its validators or greater than $820 million in assets under delegation, helping it more than double its annualized revenues in Q2 when compared to Q4 of last year.
From those delegated assets, it earns around an 8% yield, a percentage similar to what it earns for staking the assets held in its Solana treasury via its owned validators, providing it a dual-income stream it called “market-agnostic” in a recent investor presentation.
In other words, it will earn a percentage on the assets delegated to its validators regardless of whether SOL’s price goes up or down.
Building an effective business is the winning strategy that will ultimately allow the firm to succeed where others may fail,” said Wald, who characterizes SOL Strategies as a “digital assets treasury (DAT)++.”
“It’s the three-to-five year strategy to be the digital asset treasury (DAT)—plus, plus,” Wald told Decrypt.
“The market likes the DAT story,” she said. “We have a massive SOL treasury and it is an explicit mandate of mine to grow it… but the plus being the business—that’s where I think others will fail.”
Wald says the additional plus comes from the alignment of its treasury and validator business.
In addition to the 3.6 million SOL delegated to its validators, the firm also holds more than 435,000 SOL—nearly $100 million worth—on its balance sheet as part of its treasury strategy, placing it among the largest publicly traded Solana treasury companies.
It wasn’t always focused on Solana though.
It only got its new name a year ago this month, rebranding from Cypherpunk Holdings to SOL Strategies to align its brand with the speedy layer-1. Prior to the change, the firm had already begun cementing its focus on Solana though, selling off Bitcoin holdings and shares of Animoca Brands to help bolster its treasury.
Despite being early to the Solana treasury trend, accumulating SOL long before the asset made its new all-time high of $293 in January, Wald said she’s “only become more bullish” on Solana, citing the network’s community and developer activity.
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