Behind the Big Three's bet on Forward Industries

Deng Tong, Golden Finance

On September 11, 2025, Multicoin Capital Managing Partner Kyle Samani announced that he had successfully led a $1.65 billion PIPE financing round for Forward Industries. Multicoin Capital, Jump Crypto, and Galaxy each pledged to invest over $100 million, and the company will use the net proceeds to launch its Solana Financial strategy. Kyle Samani personally invested an additional $25 million on top of Multicoin's commitment.

In addition, Kyle Samani will serve as Chairman of the Forward Industries Board of Directors. Jump Crypto Chief Investment Officer Saurabh Sharma and Galaxy President and Chief Investment Officer Chris Ferraro have been granted Board Observer status.

What is Forward Industries?

Why are these three investors betting $1.65 billion on Forward Industries as the Solana treasury? What is Solana's future?

1. What is Forward Industries?

Forward Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: FORD) was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Hoppauge, New York. Forward Industries and its subsidiaries design, manufacture, source, market, and distribute carrying and protection solutions. The company operates through its OEM Distribution and Design segments. The OEM Distribution segment sources and distributes carrying cases and other accessories for medical monitoring and diagnostic kits; as well as other portable electronic and non-electronic products, such as sports and leisure products, barcode scanners, GPS tracking devices, tablets, and firearms. The Design segment provides hardware and software product design and engineering services. Forward Industries sells its products to original equipment manufacturers in the United States, Poland, Germany, China, and internationally.

2. Forward Industries’ Solana Treasury Strategy

On September 8, Forward Industries announced that it would use $1.65 billion in cash and stablecoin commitments for a private investment in equity (“PIPE”) led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital to launch a Solana-focused digital asset fund management strategy, aligning the company with the rapidly growing Solana ecosystem. According to the announcement, Forward plans to position itself as a publicly traded institutional investment vehicle and plans to create on-chain returns and long-term value by participating in the Solana ecosystem. Forward Industry’s $1.65 billion SOL treasury fund is almost three times the existing largest Solana treasury reserve.

C/M Capital Partners, LP, one of the company’s largest existing shareholders, also participated in the transaction. The PIPE also saw support and participation from several global investment firms and digital asset ecosystem leaders, including: Corporates: Big Brain Holdings, Bitwise Asset Management, Borderless Capital, Coinlist Alpha, Cyber ​​Fund, C/M Capital Partners, LP, FalconX, Graticule Asset Management Asia, Jupiter, L1 Digital, ParaFi, Ribbit Capital, RockawayX, and SkyBridge Capital. Angel Investors: Cindy Leow (Drift), Guy Young (Ethena), Howard Lindzon (Stockwits), Lucas Bruder (Jito), Lucas Netz (Pudgy Penguins), Robert Leshner (Superstate), Tarun Chitra (Gauntlet), and Tory Green (io.net). According to Forward Industry, Galaxy Digital will provide fund management, trading, lending, and staking services. Jump Crypto will support infrastructure development through projects such as Firedancer and DoubleZero, while Multicoin Capital will provide strategic guidance and governance. Why did the Big Three invest $1.65 billion in Forward Industries as the Solana treasury? 1. Why Forward Industries? As mentioned above, Forward Industries' businesses include healthcare, electronics, software and hardware. Its diverse product portfolio can offset market risks. Furthermore, electronic equipment, software and hardware are the hardware foundation for cryptocurrency mining, trading, and storage. As the crypto industry continues to develop, demand for mining and storage hardware will continue to increase, and Forward Industries has a bright future. 2. Why Solana?

As early as the end of August this year, Bloomberg reported that the three companies were going to raise $1 billion to acquire listed companies in order to create the largest Solana treasury enterprise. Currently, the market is generally optimistic about Solana's development momentum, and giants also have high expectations for Solana.

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz believes that the current crypto market is entering a "Solana season" because both market momentum and regulatory signals are favorable to the blockchain. Solana is a blockchain tailored for the financial market, with excellent speed and transaction capacity. Solana and Ethereum represent healthy competition in rebuilding the global financial infrastructure. As applications mature, multiple blockchains will coexist through bridges.

Kyle Samani, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Multicoin, noted: “I have been one of Solana’s earliest and most active supporters since Multicoin first led its seed round in 2018. While Solana has remained resilient in the face of adversity and remains one of the highest performing general-purpose blockchains, it remains widely misunderstood and undervalued by market participants. I believe this asymmetry creates a tremendous opportunity for Solana’s treasury strategy.”

Michael Pruitt, CEO of Forward Industries, said: “Solana has become one of the most innovative and widely adopted blockchain ecosystems in the world. Our strategy of building an active Solana Treasury Program demonstrates our confidence in the long-term potential of Solana and our commitment to creating shareholder value by directly participating in its development. Partnering with Galaxy, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin – companies that have invested in Solana "We have deep expertise and a strong track record in ecosystem investment and building—a solid foundation for us to execute on this strategy and position the company as a key player in the digital asset space." IV. The Future of Solana On September 10th, Solana's market capitalization returned to $120 billion. On October 16th, the market will see the SEC's approval decisions for the Bitwise Solana ETF and the 21Shares Core Solana ETF. Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan noted that he expects a "Solana season" to arrive, with the expected ETF approval, subsequent capital inflows, and corporate bond purchases driving Solana's gains similar to those of Bitcoin and Ethereum. "Solana is poised for an epic year-end. Solana's selling point is speed and cost." Solana is a programmable blockchain built for stablecoins, tokenized assets, and DeFi. Transactions cost less than a cent and complete within milliseconds after upgrades—far faster than Ethereum. Unlike Ethereum, Solana doesn't rely on Layer 2, offering a simpler user experience. Despite critics pointing out Solana's greater centralization risk, it maintains a solid position, ranking third in stablecoin liquidity and fourth in tokenized assets, with its tokenized assets under management growing by 140% this year.

REX Financial CEO Greg King believes Solana is a "future star" beyond Ethereum when it comes to stablecoins.

Industry insiders note that Solana currently has a 45% probability of exceeding its previous peak of $293 by the end of 2025, a 19% higher probability than last month, as its price has surged 22.50% over the same period.