Nasdaq-listed Forward Industries (FWDI) is uniquely positioned to consolidate the downbeat digital assets treasury space because it carries no corporate debt and is completely unleveraged, giving it room to play offensively while peers pull back, according to Ryan Navi, the firm’s chief investment officer.
“Scale plus an untapped balance 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 implement leverage when market opportunities arise,” said Navi. “The foundation we have built for Forward allows us to operate effectively in market conditions with abundant opportunities, positioning us to act as a net consolidator rather than a forced seller,” he added.
Digital asset treasury companies, companies whose balance sheets are heavily weighted toward cryptocurrencies, have come under growing pressure amid the recent market downturn. Falling crypto prices have depressed asset values and pushed leverage higher, forcing some companies to sell portions of their crypto holdings to service 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 solana 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. This corresponds to a paper loss of around DKK 1 billion. FWDI’s stock has fallen from a high near $40 at the height of last year’s digital asset treasury company frenzy to the current price just above $5.
Becoming a solana checkout giant
Forward Industries’ focus shifted sharply in 2025 when it raised about $1.65 billion in a private equity investment led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital. The deal transformed the firm into the largest Solana-focused financial company in the public markets, with holdings larger than its next three competitors combined. The strategy is straightforward: accumulate SOL, stake it for onchain dividends, and use the company’s cost of capital advantage to increase growth per share. share over time.
Buy in a staggered market
Navi, who joined the firm in December after stints as a principal at KKR and as a managing director at ParaFi Capital, said crypto stocks remain deeply displaced, creating opportunities for disciplined capital allocation to be highly leveraged. When sentiment improves and the stock trades above net worth, Forward can issue shares to buy more crypto; when markets are weaker, accretion can be easier to generate, he said, since prices and expectations are already compressed.
Why Solana
The bet on Solana is as much about fundamentals as it is about positioning. While Ethereum remains the dominant platform for smart contracts by market capitalization and decentralization, Navi argues that it has become slower and more expensive, with layer-2 networks fragmenting liquidity and, in his view, diluting the value of the base layer.
Solana, on the other hand, is optimized for speed, cost and finality, qualities that matter most for consumer applications and capital markets. Viral moments like last year’s meme-driven surge in activity showed that the chain can handle millions of users and extraordinary transaction throughput, even if those applications themselves were ephemeral. “It showed what’s possible,” Navi said. “It’s a matter of when, not if, the next breakout app will come.”
A lower cost of capital
Forward’s balance flexibility extends beyond simple buy and hold. The company rates its SOL at around a 6% to 7% yield, a rate that will gradually decline as Solana’s programmed issuance declines and supply becomes increasingly disinflationary.
It has also partnered with Sanctum to issue a floating stake token, fwdSOL, which earns stake rewards while remaining usable as security in decentralized finance (DeFi). At venues like Kamino, Navi said, Forward can borrow against this collateral at costs below the stake yield, creating a more capital-efficient structure than most peers have access to.
A game with permanent capital
Longer term, Navi Forward sees itself as a permanent asset of capital rather than a trade, more akin to a Berkshire Hathaway than a fund with redemptions or a fixed life. It opens the door to underwriting real-world assets, tokenized royalties, and other cash-flow businesses that remove the company’s cost of capital and can ultimately be brought in-house.
“We’re not running a trading book, we’re building a long-term Solana box,” 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 effort.”
In the short term, he added, widespread stress across the sector has left many digital assets trading at deep discounts, setting the stage for consolidation.
With no leverage, deep backing from blue-chip crypto investors and the largest SOL balance in the public markets, Navi believes Forward is one of the few firms positioned to lead this roll-up.
Kyle Samani said Wednesday that he was stepping down as CEO of Multicoin Capital while remaining chairman of Forward Industries. In particular, he is taking his exit from the Multicoin Master Fund in FWDI shares and warrants instead of cash.
Read more: Forward Industries Launches $4B ATM Offering to Expand Solana Treasury
