Nasdaq-listed Forward Industries (FWDI) has emerged as the largest publicly traded Solana-focused digital asset treasury company, holding over 6.97 million SOL tokens worth approximately $600 million at current prices. The firm's strategy is centered on accumulating SOL, staking it for yield, and leveraging its unlevered balance sheet to consolidate weaker competitors in a stressed market.
Chief Investment Officer Ryan Navi emphasized the company's strategic advantage, stating, "Scale plus an unlevered balance sheet is a real advantage in this market. We can play offense when others are playing defense." Forward Industries carries no corporate debt and maintains about $30 million in liquid operating capital, providing flexibility while many peers are forced to sell assets to service debt amid falling crypto prices.
The company's SOL holdings, acquired at an average price of $232, represent a significant paper loss of roughly $1 billion with SOL trading around $85. FWDI's stock has also declined sharply from a high near $40 to just above $5. Despite this, its treasury size now exceeds the combined Solana holdings of its next three closest competitors: DeFi Development Corp., Upexi, and Sharps Technology.
This dominant position was established following a $1.65 billion private investment in public equity (PIPE) deal in 2025 led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital. The transaction transformed Forward into the largest public Solana treasury, with a strategy focused on staking SOL for a 6-7% annual yield and using its cost-of-capital advantage for long-term per-share accretion.
Navi, who previously worked at KKR and ParaFi Capital, argues that crypto equities remain "deeply dislocated," creating opportunities for disciplined capital allocation. The company stakes nearly all its SOL through its own validator infrastructure and has partnered with Sanctum to issue a liquid staking token, fwdSOL. This token earns staking rewards while remaining usable as collateral in DeFi, allowing Forward to borrow at costs below the staking yield on venues like Kamino.
Forward's long-term vision is to evolve into a permanent-capital vehicle similar to Berkshire Hathaway, capable of underwriting tokenized real-world assets, royalties, and on-chain cash-flow instruments. The company has also partnered with Superstate to list its SEC-registered shares directly on the Solana blockchain, enabling regulated equity exposure within DeFi applications.
Navi believes Solana's optimization for speed, cost, and finality makes it ideal for consumer applications and capital-markets use cases, citing last year's meme-driven activity surge as proof of the chain's capacity. "It's a question of when, not if, the next breakout app arrives," he said.
In a related development, Multicoin Capital managing director Kyle Samani announced he is stepping down while remaining chairman of Forward Industries, taking his exit from the Multicoin Master Fund in FWDI shares and warrants instead of cash.
