Canadian listed company SOL Strategies Inc. announced on April 23, 2025 that it has signed an independent agreement with ATW Partners on the same day, and will establish a convertible notes financing mechanism of up to US$500 million. The funds raised will be used specifically to purchase SOL tokens. These tokens will be pledged through verification nodes directly operated by SOL Strategies, and the profits generated will be shared by both parties.

According to the financing mechanism released by the company, convertible notes with a total principal of US$20 million will be issued in the first batch, and a maximum amount of US$480 million can be withdrawn in batches according to specific conditions. The first delivery is expected to be completed around May 1, 2025, and the specific time depends on the regular delivery conditions. Under this innovative structure, the bill interest will be paid in SOL tokens, calculated as 85% of the staking income generated by SOL tokens purchased through this mechanism and pledged by SOL Strategies.

Who is SOL Strategies

Originally known as Cypherpunk Holdings Inc., founded in 2002 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, SOL Strategies Inc. was listed on the Italian Stock Exchange in 1998 and transferred to the Canadian Stock Exchange in 2012 under the code HODL.

On July 9, 2024, Leah Wald became CEO. Under her leadership, the company focused on the Solana blockchain ecosystem, listed SOL tokens as the core asset of the balance sheet, operated cutting-edge verification nodes, and developed a complete intelligent staking tool. To reflect this strategic transformation, the company was officially renamed SOL Strategies Inc. on September 9, 2024 by Cypherpunk Holdings Inc.. The company submitted a listing application to Nasdaq at the end of 2024, but the listing process has not yet been completed. Its stock is still trading on the Canadian Stock Exchange and traded under the code CYFRF in the US OTC market.

After establishing the transformation goals, SOL Strategies began to increase its holdings in Solana assets, cut Bitcoin exposure, and dispose of other non-core assets. According to its first quarter 2025 financial report, as of now, SOL's holdings have increased from zero to 267,151, and Bitcoin's holdings have gradually dropped from 215.37 on September 30, 2023 to 56.25 on September 30, 2024, and further reduced their holdings to the current 3.21, reflecting the strategic transfer of resources to the Solana ecological project. In addition, the company also cleared its shares in Animoca Brands to earn $1.8 million and relocated funds to core business areas by selling other non-core assets.

In addition to replacing core assets, SOL Strategies has also made great progress and stable growth in verification node acquisitions and revenues and pledge businesses:

In terms of acquisition and growth of verification nodes, as of March 3, 2025, the company's verification nodes pledged 1,653,752 SOL tokens, an increase of 1,434% from the end of 2024, of which the company's own SOL tokens were 239,607. These verification nodes are optimized to provide highly scalable, highly available and competitive rates of return, ensuring operational efficiency;

In terms of revenue growth in staking business, of the 239,623 SOL tokens held by SOL Strategies, 239,607 have been pledged specifically to high-performance verification nodes operated by them, a significant increase of 137% from the 101,200 pledges on September 30, 2024. The annualized SOL tokens of these pledged SOL tokens generate 12,800 SOLs in staking income, and the average annualized rate of return of verification nodes is about 7%.

In terms of verification node revenue, starting from January 1, 2025 (the first day when SOL Strategies fully controls the three major Solana verification nodes), the annualized revenue of verification nodes will reach 26,512 SOLs. This revenue comes from commissions entrusted by the company and third parties to SOL tokens entrusted to SOL Strategies high-performance verification nodes.

Listed companies are investing in a crowd, is Solana's spring coming?

Perhaps due to the impact of Canada's approved staking-based SOL ETF, a large amount of funds poured into the SOL ecosystem this week, and SOL Strategies is not the first company to do the "SOL version micro strategy".

On April 21, cryptocurrency trading and investment company GSR announced a $100 million equity investment in Nasdaq-listed Upexi, Inc. Upexi is a brand owner focusing on consumer product development, manufacturing and distribution. The investment comes after Upexi announced a strategic transformation into a crypto-based financial strategy, aiming to create long-term value-added and earnings for shareholders. Upexi has committed to developing a Solana financial strategy, which includes Solana's overweight and pledges. Upexi's stock price then rose 659.91% to $17.25, reflecting the market's positive attitude towards Solana's strategy.

In addition, on April 22 local time, DeFi Development Corporation (NASDAQ: JNVR) announced that it had purchased 88,164 SOL tokens worth approximately US$11.5 million. On April 23, 65,305 SOL was purchased again, worth $9.9 million, with total holdings increasing to $317,273 SOL, worth $48.2 million.

As the first and largest pure Solana ecosystem listed company in North America, SOL Strategies has built a broader path between traditional finance and blockchain innovation, providing investors with economies of scale and compliant Solana ecosystem investment channels, which can continue to help the development and expansion of the Solana ecosystem.

SOL Strategies and Micro Strategy are strategically similar. Micro Strategy has become a way for investors to indirectly invest in Bitcoin by holding large amounts of Bitcoin as the core asset of the balance sheet. Similarly, SOL Strategies provides investors with opportunities to invest in Solana by holding SOL and operating verification nodes, both providing traditional investors with access to cryptocurrencies through the form of publicly listed companies.

But SOL Strategies not only holds SOL, but also actively participates in the Solana ecosystem, and obtains additional benefits by operating verification nodes and investing in Solana projects. Active participation in the SOL ecosystem can in turn feed back the company's asset value. As SOL Strategies CEO Lea Wald said, SOL Strategies is the largest financing mechanism of its kind in the Solana ecosystem. Each investment will generate instant revenue, simultaneously increasing company assets, and helping the development of verification node business.