In the crypto world's treasury narrative, Bitcoin has Michael Saylor and Ethereum has Tom Lee, who are jokingly called "master shillers" by their communities for their highly influential endorsements of their respective camps. However, Solana, despite its ecosystem's rapid rise, has consistently lacked a true "treasury spokesperson" capable of vigorously championing its cause. Now, as Wall Street capital gradually turns its attention to Solana, this situation might be changing.
Recently, Solana treasury company Forward Industries announced the completion of a $1.65 billion private funding round, formally launching its financial strategy. Backing it are Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Solana's long-term "ally" – Multicoin Capital. This funding round attracted over $100 million in primary investment commitments, along with participation from multiple institutions and angel investors.
Even more notable is that Multicoin co-founder Kyle Samani not only co-led the investment institutionally but also personally added a $25 million investment and assumed the role of Chairman at Forward. Amid widespread external skepticism about the sustainability of crypto treasuries, he is betting real money on the future of Solana's treasury.
Multicoin is arguably the most influential capital driver within the Solana ecosystem. Since 2018, the firm has consecutively participated in three rounds of Solana funding, notably purchasing a significant amount of SOL at $0.04 per token during the 2018 seed round, with estimated returns exceeding 5000x. Beyond financial backing, Multicoin has consistently "shilled" for Solana through research reports and has deeply embedded itself in its ecosystem, investing in dozens of key projects like io.net, Pyth, and Jito.
Since the beginning of this year, Multicoin has noticeably slowed its pace of primary market investments, disclosing only 6 investments in the first half of the year, with no new moves seen after June. The surface calm belies strategic accumulation – they have shifted their focus towards a new narrative direction: DAT (Decentralized Autonomous Treasury).
Samani stated that Forward will leverage the resource network Multicoin has built over years within the Solana ecosystem to acquire discounted and locked SOL, enhancing treasury yields through staking, DeFi strategies, and cross-market arbitrage. Its core goal is to continuously increase the "SOL value per share," achieving active asset management.
He explicitly stated that SOL is the best underlying asset for DAT, with the key reason being "real yield." Currently, SOL staking offers an approximate 8.05% annual yield, of which about 1.86% comes from real economic activity and MEV, far exceeding ETH's 0.41%. BTC, being unable to generate staking yield, is entirely unsuitable for the DAT structure.
Although Samani lacks the Wall Street pedigree of a figure like Saylor, making it difficult to directly compare his influence in traditional finance, he is more like the "Joseph Lubin" of the Solana world – becoming an indispensable narrative core within the ecosystem through early conviction, capital propulsion, and continuous evangelism.
From health tech entrepreneur to top-tier crypto investor, from early Ethereum beneficiary to Solana's staunchest bull, Samani is using Forward as a pivot point, attempting to replicate his investment legend once again on the new battlefield of Solana DAT.
