SOL Strategies: Embracing the Underdog Position
Solana infrastructure and treasury firm SOL Strategies sees itself as an underdog in a rapidly growing field of publicly traded crypto businesses and digital asset treasuries—but it welcomes the challenge.
The Canadian-based venture began trading shares on the Nasdaq Exchange on Tuesday, broadening its investor reach beyond the Canadian Stock Exchange and OTC markets where it had previously traded.
Although shares closed the trading day on Friday up 7.5% at $7.37, they still ended the week down 43% from their initial trading day.
“I do see us as an underdog,” stated SOL Strategies CEO Leah Wald in an interview. “We are a tiny technology company out there in a sea of technology companies.”
Wald, who stepped into the role of CEO in July 2024 after years of experience in the crypto sector, expressed her appreciation for the opportunity to compete against larger and better-established firms in the industry.
“Being underestimated is absolutely an advantage. It gives us room to execute and focus on building without the distractions that come with being overhyped,” she explained. “In crypto, being underestimated often means you’re doing something right. The market rewards substance over hype in the long run, and that’s exactly where we want to be positioned.”
To this end, the firm has established itself as a key player in the Solana ecosystem, running a validator business that generates yield from assets delegated or staked to its validators.
According to its August business update, the firm currently has 3.6 million SOL delegated to its validators, which totals over $820 million in assets under delegation, contributing to a more than doubling of its annualized revenues in Q2 compared to Q4 of the previous year.
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From these delegated assets, SOL Strategies earns an approximate 8% yield, a figure that mirrors the returns it gets from staking assets held in its Solana treasury through its owned validators, thus creating a dual-income stream it referred to as “market-agnostic” in a recent investor presentation.
In simpler terms, it will earn a percentage on the assets delegated to its validators irrespective of whether SOL’s price fluctuates.
“Building an effective business is the winning strategy that will ultimately allow the firm to succeed where others may fail,” remarked Wald, who describes SOL Strategies as a “digital assets treasury (DAT)++.”
“It’s the three-to-five year strategy to be the digital asset treasury (DAT)—plus, plus,” she added.
“The market likes the DAT story,” she noted. “We have a massive SOL treasury and it is an explicit mandate of mine to grow it… but the plus being the business—that’s where I think others will fail.”
Wald emphasized that the added “plus” stems from the alignment between its treasury and validator business.
In addition to the delegated 3.6 million SOL with its validators, the firm also maintains over 435,000 SOL—approximately $100 million worth—on its balance sheet as part of its treasury strategy, positioning it among the largest publicly traded Solana treasury companies.
However, the firm hasn’t always concentrated on Solana.
Just this month last year, it adopted its new name, transitioning from Cypherpunk Holdings to SOL Strategies to better align its brand with the fast layer-1 network. Before this change, the firm had already begun focusing on Solana, liquidating Bitcoin holdings and shares of Animoca Brands to enhance its treasury.
Despite its early involvement in the Solana treasury trend, acquiring SOL long before the asset reached its all-time high of $293 in January, Wald mentioned she’s “only become more bullish” on Solana, lauding the network’s community and developer engagement.
