Catenaa, Friday, May 02, 2025-Consumer goods firm Upexi is building a Solana-based cryptocurrency treasury with a $100 million private investment led by crypto trading firm GSR, the companies announced Monday.
The funding, structured as a private investment in public equity (PIPE), will support Upexi’s acquisition and staking of Solana (SOL) tokens as part of its entry into blockchain asset strategies. The Tampa-based company’s shares surged more than 600% on Nasdaq, trading at $16.50 by midmorning.
“This investment highlights the growing demand for efficient, secure access to high-quality crypto assets in public markets,” said Brian Rudick, GSR’s head of research. He praised Solana’s speed and scalability as ideal for long-term institutional adoption.
The move aligns Upexi with a growing number of traditional companies tapping into Solana. In April, property finance firm Janover began building a Solana treasury after its acquisition by former Kraken executives. It later rebranded to DeFi Development Corporation and entered a staking partnership with Kraken.
Canadian holding firm Sol Strategies also grew its Solana reserves to nearly 190,000 tokens, valued at approximately $40 million.
Solana Foundation President Lily Liu said the GSR-Upexi partnership “signals how traditional finance and DeFi are starting to intersect.”
Solana is the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, worth $71.5 billion. As of Monday, SOL was trading at $138.29 per token.
GSR has long touted Solana’s blockchain potential, predicting last year that it could outperform bitcoin in technical superiority and ecosystem growth.
