In brief
- Solana Company says it has deepened its on-chain strategy by adding Twinstake and Helius as institutional validators, expanding its $396 million Solana treasury.
- The Nasdaq-listed firm, formerly a medical device maker, has rebranded as a Solana-focused treasury vehicle after a 96% stock decline this year.
- Chairman Joseph Chee said the firm is “leaning into market pressure,” as it pursues regulated staking and governance exposure to the Solana network.
Solana Company (Nasdaq: HSDT), one of the few U.S.-listed firms holding Solana on its balance sheet, has expanded its digital asset treasury operations by partnering with staking providers Twinstake and Helius.
The move extends HSDT’s on-chain strategy, which already includes more than 2.2 million SOL, worth about $396 million, held in custody at Anchorage Digital Bank.
Before its pivot, HSDT, formerly Helius Medical Technologies, developed medical devices. The company has since recast itself as a Solana-focused treasury vehicle, using its public listing to offer regulated market exposure to the Solana network.
The shift came as the firm sought to stabilize its finances after its stock collapsed from $182.75 on June 2 to $9.76 a month later. HSDT formally adopted its new Solana-based strategy on September 15, but the move has yet to win over investors.
Shares fell 6.4% on Wednesday to $6.25, extending a six-month slide of more than 96%, according to Google Finance data.
“Volatility creates opportunity, and conviction is tested in moments like these,” Joseph Chee, Executive Chairman of HSDT and Chairman of Summer Capital, told Decrypt. “We’re not running from market pressure, we’re leaning into it.”
The company and Chee said the new agreements with Twinstake and Helius add institutional infrastructure for staking, voting, and reporting, expanding upon its vision as one of the first U.S. public firms to directly stake Solana through regulated channels.
Twinstake, a Pantera-backed staking platform, describes itself as one of Europe’s largest validators for ETF and ETP digital-asset products and the core infrastructure partner for the REX-Osprey Solana Staking ETF.
Both Twinstake and Helius rank among the top 25 validators on Solana by total tokens staked, Solscan data shows.
A stake in Solana treasuries
The move also follows Solana Company’s recent $500 million private raise led by Pantera Capital and Summer Capital, which funded its accumulation of SOL tokens.
Earlier this week, the firm opened resale for private investors, triggering a 22% drop in its share price as previously restricted stock became tradable.
At the time, Chee said the company’s decision to proceed with the resale registration “in volatile markets” was a show of conviction in its Solana-linked treasury model.
That conviction is echoed by interest in DeFi Development Corp., another Solana-focused treasury firm, following a Schedule 13G filing on Wednesday that revealed that Citadel, owned by billionaire Ken Griffin, had acquired a 4.5% stake in the company, Cointelegraph reported.
Solana remains one of the most dominant blockchain networks despite a roughly 60% decline in active wallets to 2.5 million from October last year. The network itself has processed more than 100 billion transactions this year, according to Solscan data.
“This is exactly when treasury companies should be accumulating, not retreating,” Chee said. “We have the capital, the institutional-grade staking partnerships with top validators…and the disciplined team to add more SOL per share when others are fearful.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication to clarify that Citadel purchased the shares, not Griffin himself.
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Source: https://decrypt.co/345583/solana-company-staking-push-institutional-validators-shares-tumble
