Sol Strategies hints $1B raise, DeFi Dev Corp liquid stakes
Solana-focused investment firm Sol Strategies filed a preliminary base shelf prospectus for up to $1 billion, as DeFi Development Corp. revealed it will adopt liquid-staked SOL for its treasury operations.
According to a May 27 Sol Strategies announcement, the publicly traded Canadian Solana investment and infrastructure company “will be permitted to make offerings of common shares” of up to $1 billion, but does not indicate an immediate offering. CEO Leah Wald said the move supports the company’s long-term growth plans.
“The filing of a base shelf prospectus supports our growth strategy by providing us with the flexibility to access capital as future opportunities arise in the rapidly evolving Solana ecosystem,” she said.
In a May 28 announcement, Solana treasury firm DeFi Dev announced its adoption of Solana liquid staking tokens. The firm will now divert part of its Solana holdings to the liquid staking token dfdvSOL.
The announcement followed DeFi Dev’s addition of 88,164 SOL to its treasury in late April, valued at $11.5 million at the time, when it held $34.4 million worth of Solana (SOL).
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What is liquid staking?
Liquid staking allows tokenholders to earn staking rewards without locking up their assets. Instead, they receive a liquid token that can be traded or used in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
DeFi Dev expects the adoption of this technology to “enhance the company’s validator operations and treasury management, consistent with its mission to maximize SOL Per Share” growth. Chief investment officer and chief operating officer Parker White said:
The adoption of dfdvSOL not only creates additional ways to drive stake to our validators and increase SOL holdings, but also advances our role as a long-term participant in the Solana ecosystem.”
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Sol Strategies prepares to safeguard capital
Sol Strategies also announced on May 28 that it had completed several key audits and certifications. The company passed SOC 2 Type 1 and SOC 1 Type 1 audits and received ISO 27001 certification for its Solana staking platform.
SOC 2 Type 1 is a report assessing a company’s controls related to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality or privacy at a specific point in time. Such an audit verifies that the firm’s controls meet trust service criteria at the time of the check.
SOC 1 Type 1 is a similar report focused on internal controls over financial reporting at a specific point in time. This audit evaluates whether the controls are appropriately designed, but does not assess their effectiveness over time.
Lastly, ISO 27001 is an international standard specifying requirements for an information security management system. These standards help manage risks pertaining to data confidentiality, integrity and availability through a continuous improvement framework.
To obtain this ISO certificate, a company must demonstrate both the documentation and implementation of controls. Sol Strategies’ Wald explained that all these measures are meant to ensure institutional trust:
“By achieving SOC 2 Type 1 and SOC 1 Type 1, alongside our ISO 27001 certification, we’ve demonstrated that institutional clients can trust SOL Strategies with their Solana staking needs.”
The compliance efforts come as the firm continues to position itself as a major Solana validator. In a previous announcement, Sol Strategies disclosed it had issued $500 million in convertible notes to buy and stake SOL.
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