A $1.65 billion war chest for Solana is now live in public markets. Forward Industries (NASDAQ: FORD) closed one of the largest PIPE financings in crypto to date—funded entirely in cash and stablecoins—to establish what sponsors call “the world’s largest Solana digital asset treasury strategy,” with proceeds earmarked primarily to purchase SOL and then actively deploy it across staking, lending and other on-chain strategies.
The deal was led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital; the trio collectively subscribed for more than $300 million. As part of the transaction, Multicoin’s Kyle Samani was appointed chairman of Forward’s board, while Galaxy President/CIO Chris Ferraro and Jump Crypto CIO Saurabh Sharma joined as board observers.
Galaxy And Partners Build Largest Solana Treasury
Galaxy framed the move as infrastructure-first, not passive exposure. In a newsroom post, the firm wrote: “This will create the world’s largest Solana digital asset treasury strategy, which will use the proceeds for the purchase of SOL… This initiative is not about passive exposure. It is about building institutional-grade infrastructure, deploying capital at scale, and demonstrating Solana’s unmatched ability to support the full spectrum of financial activity—from trading and settlement to staking, lending, and beyond.”
Forward’s SEC-filed press release codifies the mechanics. It confirms the $1.65 billion in gross proceeds, the use of net proceeds “primarily to purchase SOL,” and the governance changes, including Samani’s elevation to chairman. The filing also itemizes a roster of additional participants across funds and founders, and discloses that Cantor Fitzgerald served as lead placement agent with Galaxy Investment Banking as co-placement agent and advisor.
Sponsors are explicit that Forward will operate the treasury, not just hold it. Galaxy’s note describes an “alpha generation” approach designed to compound SOL-per-share faster than simple token appreciation, leveraging Galaxy’s prime and validator stack, Jump’s trading and infrastructure edge (including the Firedancer client effort), and Multicoin’s strategy design.
Forward’s release mirrors that ambition: “By establishing a Solana treasury, Forward Industries is positioning itself to benefit from one of the fastest-growing blockchain networks… through staking, lending, and market making strategies.”
Two execution variables will shape market impact. First is purchase routing: as PIPE proceeds are converted to SOL via a mix of OTC and exchange execution, the cadence and venue choice will determine how much pressure reaches visible spot books versus being absorbed bilaterally.
Second is inventory utilization: staking raises headline yields but reduces liquid float; lending and market-making recycle inventory into liquidity pools, affecting borrow rates, basis and depth around key levels. In all cases, a capitalized, mandate-driven public-company buyer represents a durable incremental bid for SOL—one that tends to register first in derivatives funding, borrow and staking-rate regimes before settling into spot.
On-chain flow watchers are already tracking execution footprints. Lookonchain reported late Thursday via X: “Galaxy Digital is helping Forward Industries acquire $1.65B worth of $SOL… In the past 12 hours, Galaxy Digital has withdrawn 1,452,392 $SOL ($326M) from exchanges,” citing Arkham entity data and linking to Forward’s SEC exhibit.
Early Friday morning, Lookonchain added: “Galaxy Digital just bought another 706,790 SOL($160M). In the past 24 hours, their total buy has been a massive 2,159,182 SOL($486M).” Market reaction has been quick. SOL is up about 6% over the past 24 hours, leading major caps on the day at press time.
