Solana treasury race heats up as firms hunt staking rewards

Public companies are scooping up Solana to get a slice of the blockchain’s staking rewards, with three firms recently sharing they’ve purchased more of the token.

Bitcoin mining firm Bit Mining  said  on Tuesday that it made its first Solana 

SOL$163.81buy, purchasing 27,191 SOL worth $4.5 million, and launched a validator to earn yield by staking the tokens.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Upexi, a brand owner specializing in supply chain management,  said  it spent most of July buying  Solana  and increasing its holdings from 735,692 tokens at the end of June to over 2 million SOL.

On Monday, DeFi Development Corp  said  it increased its crypto holdings to over 1.2 million SOL, having bought up another 110,466 tokens.

  Source: DeFi Development Corp

CoinGecko  said  on Tuesday that the recent buys highlight “a growing trend of Solana exposure among public firms,” with the top four Solana-holding companies controlling over 3.5 million tokens worth more than $591.1 million, representing nearly 0.65% of the SOL’s circulating supply.

Long-term staking plans

DeFi Development Corp said after its latest purchase that it would stake its SOL holdings with various validators, where those who lock SOL tokens up to validate transactions on the blockchain are given more SOL as a reward.

The company, formerly called Janover,  was mainly a real estate financing company  that used an artificial intelligence-powered online platform to connect lenders and commercial property buyers. 

The firm  made  its first SOL purchase of 2,858 tokens on April 8  after being acquired by former executives  from the crypto exchange Kraken.

Meanwhile, Upexi CEO Allan Marshall said that July “was a game-changing month” for the company after raising over $200 million for additional SOL purchases and increasing its holdings to over two million tokens.

  Source: Allan Marshall 

The firm also staked most of its SOL, which Marshall said saw it earn an 8% yield and pocket $65,000 a day in revenue.

Bit Mining to expand into Solana ecosystem

Bit Mining chairman and chief operating officer Bo Yu said the company’s first self-operated validator marks the beginning of a broader effort to build a presence across the  Solana ecosystem .

“It demonstrates our belief in Solana's potential and our commitment to building meaningful infrastructure that supports its growth, security, and decentralization,” Yu added.

Bit Mining announced on July 10 that it was making a strategic shift into the Solana ecosystem, with plans  to raise up to $300 million to build a Solana token  treasury.

Staking yield primary catalyst for purchases

In a June 18 report, crypto firm BitGo  speculated  that a growing number of companies are adding Solana to their treasuries specifically for the  staking rewards  and to stand out after a  flood of other firms adopted  Bitcoin .  

“Bitcoin integration into corporate balance sheets challenged traditional treasury thinking, signaling digital assets’ transition into a legitimate institutional asset class,” BitGo said.

“Companies adopting Solana gain exposure to reward-generating digital assets, align strategically with emerging blockchain infrastructure, and differentiate themselves in the marketplace.”

Upexi currently leads the Solana treasury race, according to CoinGecko, with DeFi Development Corp in second, and  SOL Strategies , a Canadian public company focused on Solana infrastructure, rounding out the top three.