In brief
- Rex-Osprey launched XRP and DOGE ETFs, and the SEC debuted streamlined listing standards for commodity-based trust shares.
- Forward Industries became Solana’s first $1 billion treasury company, with Helius planning a $500 million SOL treasury raise
- KindlyMD shares dropped 54% after filing S-3 registration, releasing $200 million in discounted shares that created sell pressure
Public Keys is a weekly roundup from Decrypt that tracks the key publicly traded crypto companies.
Alt Autumn loading
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission press release didn’t actually mention altcoins, but crypto ETF hopefuls haven’t wasted time rushing their funds toward the starting line.
The regulator has streamlined generic listing standards for commodity-based trust shares, meaning that as long as applicants meet the listing standards of the Nasdaq, Cboe BZX, and NYSE Arca exchanges, they can opt out of applying for a rule change for individual funds like every other crypto ETF issuer so far.
The rule change didn’t have unanimous support, though. Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw said in a statement Wednesday that the new rule amounts to “passing the buck on reviewing these proposals and making the required investor protection findings, in favor of fast tracking these new and arguably unproven products to market.”
Rex-Osprey was first out of the gate with its Rex-Osprey XRP ETF and Rex-Osprey DOGE ETF. The company is also working to bring a leveraged option to market, the Rex-Osprey DOJE Growth & Income ETF, for traders who want big risks and big rewards.
It’s still early, as the filing doesn’t yet mention a fee. But the objective is to pay weekly distributions by selling calls, while targeting 1.05 to 1.5 times the daily move of its newly trading DOJE Dogecoin ETF—resetting exposure every day. It’s a product for short-term traders, not buy-and-hold investors.
Dogecoin jumped as high as $0.28 earlier this week on the bullish news, but the gains haven’t been long lasting. At the time of writing, DOGE was down over 5% to $0.26.
Kindly leave
KindlyMD CEO David Bailey did a pre-flight check on Monday, pointing out the exits to investors who weren’t comfortable with some near-term volatility. The company’s shares dropped 54% to $1.26 that day. And after the closing bell on Friday, the price hasn’t improved much.
The company’s shares—which trade on the NasdaqGM under the NAKA ticker symbol—finished the day trading for $1.40, after having lost 6% in the past day and down 87% over the last month.
The company became a Bitcoin treasury company when it merged with Nakamoto Holdings, Bailey’s BTC holding company, earlier this year. The newly formed firm jumpstarted its Bitcoin treasury vision with a $200 million PIPE deal. But the discounted shares that were sold during that round were essentially locked until the company filed its S-3 registration with the SEC.
Once the registration was filed and deemed effective, there was $200 million worth of discounted shares creating sell pressure.
Bailey, ever the optimist, found a silver lining.
“I will say one of the unintended consequences of the stock being down is [that] everyone can buy in relatively cheap and ride with us,” he wrote on X. “The past week we’ve put up serious volume and one or two more days like yesterday and we’ll have churned and reset the cap table. Then we’ll have our convicted and aligned shareholder base.”
Grayscale has also listed its Digital Large Cap Fund after playing red light, green light with the SEC for months. The fund, which trades under the GDLC ticker, tracks a basket of assets that contains XRP, Solana, Cardano, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.
Treasured SOL
Solana got its first $1 billion treasury company, but that was just the beginning of bullish news for SOL digital asset treasuries.
The same day Forward Industries crossed the $1 billion mark, Helius announced plans to raise $500 million to build its own Solana treasury.
Two days later, Forward Industries debuted an at-the-market offering to raise another $4 billion in cash to buy more SOL. If it does raise the cash and spend the bulk of it buying Solana tokens, that could more than double the $3.1 billion worth of SOL already sitting with publicly traded companies.
Then, on Thursday, former chief legal officer at Kraken, Marco Santori, was named CEO at newly renamed Solana treasury Solmate. The company made its debut as a digital asset treasury by announcing a $300 million raise, and saw its stock soar 500%.
The news has been bullish for SOL, but not enough to save it from the malaise that’s hit the rest of the crypto market. At the time of writing, Solana was lagging 4% behind its price on Thursday and changing hands for about $238.
Other Keys
BitLicense boost: Newly IPO’d Bullish saw its shares jump on news that it’s been granted a BitLicense by the New York State Department of Financial Services. That means it’s now approved to operate in the state as a digital asset trading and custody business, and BitLicense aims to expand its broader U.S. presence as a result.
Itty, bitty buy: Strategy added $60 million worth of Bitcoin to its BTC treasury this week, the smallest buy it’s announced in a month. Although the company has raised around $68.2 million through its various preferred stock offerings, the company only spent $60.2 million on Bitcoin, leaving it with around $8 million in extra cash.
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