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Blockworks’ Jack Kubinec is back for today’s edition of Lightspeed — and he’s got another Solana scoop for you. So grab a chair and kick your feet up! You’ll see Donovan back in your inboxes tomorrow.

Multicoin’s Kyle Samani expected to be chairman for Solana DAT: Sources

On Friday, Blockworks reported that Multicoin Capital managing partner Kyle Samani is expected to serve as chairman for a forthcoming Solana treasury vehicle, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

And now we know more. 

A press release on Monday confirmed that Samani will be the executive chairman of Forward Industries. The release also announced that it raised $1.65 billion in “cash and stablecoin commitments for a private investment in public equity.”

With the $1.65 billion, it’s set to become the largest Solana treasury vehicle as things stand today. The current leader, Upexi, has a net asset value of $413 million, according to Blockworks Research data. 

“Galaxy, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin will provide both capital and strategic support to help Forward Industries structure and execute its Solana treasury strategy and with the goal of positioning it as the leading publicly traded institutional participant in the Solana ecosystem,” the release continued.

Multicoin hatched plans for a potential $1 billion Solana digital asset treasury company alongside Galaxy Digital and Jump Crypto, Bloomberg first reported.

Samani’s role as chairman could answer a question on many Solana watchers’ minds lately: Who will be Solana’s version of Michael Saylor? 

Multicoin first invested in Solana during the blockchain’s 2018 seed round, and Samani has become one of the network’s staunchest advocates.

Samani frequently posts in Solana’s favor — and trolls its competitors — to his more than 170,000 followers on X. Samani’s chairmanship could set him up for a similar role to Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor and BitMine chairman Tom Lee, who have become well-known for television appearances and social media posts praising bitcoin and ether — which are held by their respective DATs.

Solana treasury companies are proportionally smaller overall than for BTC or ETH. Just 1% of SOL is held by treasury companies, compared to 3.4% and 2.9% of bitcoin and ether, respectively.

— Jack Kubinec

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