Packaging company Eightco buys Altman-backed Worldcoin, stock price surges nearly 50 times in a single day

Eightco Holdings announced that it will implement a "first-of-its-kind" strategy to purchase Worldcoin, having already raised approximately $270 million in funding.

Written by: Bao Yilong

Source: Wallstreetcn

A corrugated packaging company saw its stock price soar nearly 5000% after announcing plans to purchase Worldcoin, becoming the latest publicly listed company to adopt a cryptocurrency reserve strategy.

On Monday, Eightco Holdings stated it would implement a "first-of-its-kind" strategy to purchase Worldcoin. To fund the initial purchase, the company has raised about $270 million by selling shares to a group of investors.

At the same time, the company announced the appointment of veteran Wall Street analyst Dan Ives, known for his bullish stance on Tesla, as its chairman. It also plans to change its Nasdaq trading symbol to "ORBS" to echo Worldcoin's iconic spherical iris scanner.

As previously reported by Wallstreetcn, the Worldcoin project was founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. This digital currency aims to redefine "human identity" in the AI era by combining iris scanning with a blockchain-based identity system.

This series of announcements spurred Eightco's stock price to surge nearly 5000% intraday on Monday, pushing its market capitalization up to $210 million. According to Bloomberg data, its trading volume was about 54,000 times the 20-day average.

Meanwhile, Worldcoin also experienced a significant rally, rising over 45% in a single day to $1.51. However, this is still far from its all-time high of $11.81.

Massive Fundraising Supports Crypto Asset Strategy

Headquartered in Pennsylvania, Eightco primarily sells customized packaging products and also operates a business unit focused on e-commerce inventory management.

To achieve its strategic transformation, Eightco has signed agreements to raise significant funds through private placements.

According to the announcement, the company sold approximately 171 million common shares at $1.46 per share, expecting to raise a total of about $250 million.

Additionally, bitcoin mining company BitMine Immersion Technologies subscribed for 13.698 million shares at the same price, providing Eightco with an additional $20 million in funding.

Eightco explicitly stated that the net proceeds from this issuance will be used to purchase WLD tokens for its treasury operations. Worldcoin will become the company's primary treasury reserve asset, with cash and Ethereum serving as secondary reserves.

This fundraising round was led by crypto-focused investor MOZAYYX, with participation from many well-known institutions, including World Foundation, Discovery Capital Management, Kraken, Pantera, and Brevan Howard.

Notably, Cantor Fitzgerald, a brokerage reportedly controlled by the Lutnick family of the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, served as financial advisor to MOZAYYX in this transaction.

Appointing a Wall Street Celebrity, Emulating the MicroStrategy Model

Eightco's new strategy places it among a group of so-called "crypto treasury companies" seeking to emulate the successful path of software maker MicroStrategy.

Over the past few years, MicroStrategy has raised funds in equity and debt markets to purchase bitcoin, with its market capitalization soaring to nearly $10 billion.

To lead this transformation, the company has brought in renowned tech analyst Dan Ives as its new chairman. Ives stated:

The future of artificial intelligence requires Worldcoin to play a leading role in this AI-driven fourth industrial revolution. Worldcoin is the internet of people. As AI brings us infinite abundance, Worldcoin provides us with infinite trust and authentication.

The Highly Watched Worldcoin

Worldcoin is a digital identity project co-founded by Sam Altman and Alex Blania, aiming to provide a crucial "Proof of Human" solution for an increasingly AI-driven world.

The project has developed unique spherical iris scanning hardware (Orb), allowing users to verify their unique human identity by scanning their iris and thus participate in Worldcoin transactions. The project was launched in the U.S. in July last year.

According to reports, Worldcoin uses zero-knowledge proof technology, enabling confirmation of a user's real and unique human identity without storing biometric data on the blockchain.

Founder Sam Altman stated:

If our mission succeeds, Worldcoin could become the largest real-person network online, fundamentally changing how we interact and transact across the entire internet.

Currently, the project has created nearly 16 million zero-knowledge proof human accounts in over 45 countries.