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Forward Industries has initiated a massive fundraising campaign, indicating increasing institutional confidence in Solana. The NASDAQ-listed company registered a $4 billion at-the-market (ATM) equity offering program with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which would allow it to grow its treasury holdings in cryptocurrency.
Forward Industries announced that the ATM program will enable it to issue and sell common stock gradually to investors through sales agent Cantor Fitzgerald. The company registered the program using an automatic shelf registration, which allows large companies to raise capital quickly and flexibly.
The company stated that the proceeds from the stock sales will be used to provide working capital, business growth, and an increase in Solana (SOL) holdings. Kyle Samani, Chairman of the Board, emphasized that the program offers a flexible framework to expand its crypto strategy, strengthen its balance sheet, and drive long-term growth initiatives.
The deal comes after Forward raised $1.65 billion in September, with fundraising support from Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital. That transaction helped set up Forward's Solana-focused treasury, which rapidly became the largest among publicly traded companies.
According to the Strategic Solana Reserve, Forward Industries currently has 6.8 million SOL tokens, worth over $1.6 billion. This would place the company as the largest Solana treasury holder, ahead of other leading DeFi development companies such as DeFi Development Corp. and Sharps Technology, which hold roughly 2 million tokens.
The accumulation trend has increased Solana reserves of corporations to over 17.1 million SOL tokens, amounting to over $4 billion in value. Comparatively, these reserves represent around 3% of Solana's total circulating supply of around 600 million tokens. Other prominent companies involved in the reserve build-up are Upexi and Helius Medical Technologies.
Earlier this week, Helius, for example, announced a $500 million Solana treasury program backed by Pantera Capital and Summer Capital. During a recent interview with CNBC, Pantera CEO Dan Morehead described Solana as the "fastest, cheapest, most-performing" blockchain network, highlighting institutional interest in the token.
In addition, the growth of Solana reserves is indicative of a larger trend of companies diversifying into digital assets. While Bitcoin and Ethereum still hold most of the corporate treasuries, Solana has become an emerging choice for companies looking to gain exposure to high-performance blockchain infrastructure.
Currently, Bitcoin treasuries are worth over 3.7 million BTC, which is approximately $428 billion, while Ethereum-based treasuries are worth more than $22 billion. While Solana reserves are smaller in comparison, their rapid growth indicates growing confidence in the network's scalability and potential applications.
With the launch of its new equity program, Forward Industries is well-positioned to grow in this competitive environment. By utilizing the ATM as an offering, the firm believes it can optimize its SOL-per-share while pursuing additional business initiatives that align with the company's treasury strategy.
