Nasdaq-listed Forward Industries (FWDI) is uniquely positioned to consolidate the weakened digital asset treasury space because it has no corporate debt and is not fully leveraged, giving it room to play offense as its peers draw down, according to Ryan Navi, the company’s chief investment officer.
“Scale plus an unleveraged balance sheet is a real advantage in this market. We can play offense when others play defense,” Navi told CoinDesk in an interview.
“Forward Industries has strategically avoided leverage and debt by design, giving us the flexibility to responsibly deploy leverage when market opportunities arise,” Navi said. “The foundation we have built for Forward allows us to operate effectively in market conditions with abundant opportunities and positions us to act as a net consolidator rather than a forced seller,” he added.
Digital asset treasuries, companies whose balance sheets are heavily tilted toward cryptocurrencies, have come under increasing pressure amid the recent market slowdown. Falling cryptocurrency prices have reduced asset values and increased leverage, forcing some companies to sell portions of their cryptocurrency holdings to pay down debt and shore up liquidity, raising questions about the sustainability of the model in prolonged bear markets.
Forward Industries is no exception. With about 7 million solar tokens acquired at an average price of $232, the company’s stack is worth around $600 million at SOL’s current level, just above $85. That represents a paper loss of approximately $1 billion. FWDI shares have plummeted from a high near $40 at the peak of last year’s digital asset treasury frenzy to the current price just above $5.
Become a solana treasure giant
Forward Industries’ center of gravity shifted dramatically in 2025, when it raised approximately $1.65 billion in a private equity investment led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital. The deal transformed the company into the largest Solana-focused treasury company in the public markets, with stakes larger than its next three competitors combined. The strategy is simple: accumulate SOL, stake it for on-chain returns, and use the company’s cost of capital advantage to drive per-share accruals over time.
Buying in a dislocated market
Navi, who joined the firm in December after serving as a director at KKR and as a managing director at ParaFi Capital, said crypto stocks remain deeply dislocated, creating opportunities for disciplined capital allocation to be highly accretive. When sentiment improves and shares trade above net asset value, Forward can issue shares to purchase more cryptocurrencies; When markets are weaker, it can be easier to generate an increase, he said, since prices and expectations are already compressed.
Why Solana?
The bet on Solana has to do with both fundamentals and positioning. While Ethereum remains the dominant smart contract platform by market capitalization and decentralization, Navi argues that it has become slower and more expensive, with layer 2 networks fragmenting liquidity and, in its view, diluting value at the base layer.
Solana, by contrast, is optimized for speed, cost, and purpose, qualities that are most important for consumer applications and capital markets use cases. Viral moments like last year’s meme-fueled surge demonstrated that the chain can handle millions of users and extraordinary transaction performance, even if those applications themselves were fleeting. “That showed what’s possible,” Navi said. “It’s a question of when, not if, the next breakup app will arrive.”
Lower cost of capital
Forward balance flexibility goes beyond simple buy and hold. The company is betting its SOL at approximately a 6% to 7% yield, a rate that will gradually decline as Solana’s scheduled issuance falls and supply becomes increasingly disinflationary.
It has also partnered with Sanctum to issue a liquid staking token, fwdSOL, which earns staking rewards while still being usable as collateral in decentralized finance (DeFi). In places like Kamino, Navi said, Forward can borrow against that collateral at costs below the return on the bet, creating a more capital-efficient structure that most of its peers can access.
A permanent capital play
Longer term, Navi sees Forward as a permanent capital vehicle rather than an operation, more akin to a Berkshire Hathaway than a fund with redemptions or a fixed life. That opens the door to underwriting real-world assets, token royalties and other cash flow deals that offset the company’s cost of capital and can eventually be brought in-house.
“We are not managing a trading book, we are building a long-term Solana treasury,” Navi said. “What sets Forward apart is discipline: no leverage, no debt and a long-term view of Solana as strategic infrastructure rather than a short-term bet.”
In the short term, he added, widespread stress across the sector has caused many digital asset treasuries to trade at deep discounts, setting the stage for consolidation.
With no leverage, deep backing from major cryptocurrency investors, and the largest SOL balance on the public markets, Navi believes Forward is one of the few companies positioned to lead that buildup.
Kyle Samani said Wednesday that he would step down as CEO of Multicoin Capital and remain president of Forward Industries. Notably, you are exiting the Multicoin Master Fund in FWDI shares and warrants instead of cash.
Read more: Forward Industries Launches $4 Billion ATM Offering to Expand Solana Treasury
