Sol
Strategies
(HODL),
a
crypto
investment
firm
led
by
Leah
Wald,
the
former
boss
and
co-founder
of
Valkyrie
Investments,
bought
four
validators
for
nearly
$18
million
in
cash
and
shares.
The
Toronto-based
firm,
formerly
known
as
Cypherpunk
Holdings,
will
buy
the
validators
from
Cogent
Crypto,
a
high-performance
validator
operating
within
the
Solana
ecosystem,
according
to
a
statement
on
Thursday.
The
total
value
of
the
investment
is
nearly
$18
million,
broken
into
three
tranches:
$1
million
cash
and
about
$1
million
in
company
shares
at
the
closing
of
the
deal,
and
the
rest
distributed
over
three
years
in
shares,
Sol
Strategies
said.
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The
firm
will
buy
validators
of
Solana
(SOL),
Sui
(SUI),
Monad
{{MONAD}}
and
ARCH
{{ARCH}}
networks
from
Cogent
Crypto,
with
most
dollars
focused
on
SOL.
Validators
are
entities
that
process
transactions
and
help
maintain
the
security
of
proof-of-stake
blockchains,
such
as
Solana
and
Ethereum,
by
staking
or
pledging
certain
amounts
of
the
network’s
cryptocurrencies.
Essentially,
validators
work
like
miners
on
a
proof-of-work
blockchain,
such
as
Bitcoin.
Sol
Strategies
has
been
actively
investing
in
the
digital
assets
sector
for
several
years
and
has
various
investments,
including
Animoca
Brands.
The
company
shifted
its
strategy
from
just
investing
in
digital
assets
to
Solana
after
hiring
Leah
Wald
to
provide
investors
with
exposure
to
indirectly
participate
in
staking
rewards
and
Solana-based
projects.
The
company
recently
said
it
holds
about
130
million
SOL,
worth
C$32.2
million
($22.9
million).
The
Solana
network,
which
hosts
numerous
meme
coins,
has
recently
started
to
catch
institutional
investors’
interest.
The
layer
1
blockchain
saw
many
giant
financial
institutions,
such
as
Franklin
Templeton,
Citibank
and
Société
Générale,
announce
new
Solana-based
projects
last
September
during
Breakpoint,
the
network’s
biggest
yearly
conference.
“This
acquisition
will
meaningfully
expand
Sol
Strategies’
staking
capabilities,
which
underpins
Solana’s
reputation
as
a
next
generation
blockchain
for
institutional
and
decentralized
applications
alike,”
said
Leah
Wald,
CEO
of
Sol
Strategies.
The
shares
of
the
investment
firm
rose
more
than
900%
this
year,
while
Solana
rose
113%,
according
to
TradingView
data.