Largest Solana treasury stock lost $1B while earning 6.7% staking rewards

The world’s largest publicly-traded Solana treasury company has lost roughly $1 billion holding SOL despite earning 6.7% staking yields. 

Forward Industries launched its Solana treasury strategy on September 8, 2025 — months after the crypto treasury bubble had already popped — with a $1.65 billion private placement led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital.

Multicoin co-founder Kyle Samani personally added $25 million and became chairman. 

“Our strategy to build an active Solana treasury program underscores our conviction in the long-term potential of SOL,” the company proclaimed at the onset. That day, SOL was trading at $206.

SOL trades at $91 today. Forward Industries currently holds 6,979,967 SOL.

Consider Forward Industries’ 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2025, when the company reported a $585.65 million net loss. The same quarter a year earlier also produced a loss, albeit a less embarrassing $708,000.

Of that loss, $560.2 million was attributable to an unrealized loss on digital assets, i.e. the disastrous performance of SOL. The company also had a $33 million impairment on fwdSOL, its own liquid-staking token, which tracks the price of SOL. 

All of those losses were offset by just $17.4 million in staking revenue.

That $17.4 million is the value of the 5-7% variable staking rewards that often dominate the company’s marketing materials about the value of its so-called treasury strategy.

That strategy is bleeding investor confidence. The company’s stock, as high as $46 per share on September 12, 2025 after its PIPE fundraise, is now trading at $4.71.

Forward Industries’ $955 million loss on SOL, plus expenses

The company’s 7 million SOL have an average cost basis near $232 and are now worth approximately $635 million, delivering roughly $955 million in unrealized losses beneath the initial $1.59 billion cost basis.

Because the company’s holdings haven’t increased substantially since the initial buy in September 2025, a chart of its holdings roughly traces the price chart of SOL itself.

That is, unfortunately, a chart that’s trended in one direction: down.

By February, CoinGecko reminded investors of their mark-to-market 64% loss. Despite 6% staking APY on its holdings, investors’ losses haven’t improved much since.

Year to date, SOL has lost 27%, including a 48% decline over the past 12 months. Over that same time period, the company’s stock price has lost 28% and 42%.

With Forward Industries’ losses mirroring that chart, investors seem to have no more confidence in its management than in SOL itself.

Forward Industries’ market cap-to-Net Asset Value (mNAV) multiple has collapsed to 0.62x, meaning that investors are willing to pay even less for company than the SOL it holds. 

In fact, depending on whether someone uses fully diluted or market cap as a valuation metric, the market values the entire company at 17% or 38% less than its SOL, respectively.

Read more: Crypto treasury companies are trading for less than their holdings

Operating losses are relatively small yet compound shareholder losses. Over just one quarter, the company spent $1.398 million operating its Solana validator, plus $3.25 million in general and administrative expenses plus another $3.4 million for G&A to a “related party,” Galaxy.

It also spent $535,000 on sales and marketing.

Paying millions of dollars for the privilege of losing $1 billion

Forward Industries paid Galaxy $3.44 million in a single quarter: roughly $1.7 million in asset management fees at 0.6% per annum.

Through December 31 alone, Forward Industries had paid Galaxy approximately $4.37 million in fees. A good portion of the company’s staking yields routed straight back to the third party that designed the vehicle.

To preside over the losses, Forward Industries CEO Michael Pruitt earned earned $873,817 in executive compensation across fiscal 2025, including a $713,817 options award. CFO Kathleen Weisberg earned $725,992. 

On April 13, 2026, an 8-K disclosed the hire of Mark Brazier as a new CFO at $500,000 base pay plus a targeted $250,000 bonus.

Forward Industries has accumulated more than 112,171 SOL in staking rewards since inception, an advertised 6.73% APY before fees. At today’s SOL price, those rewards are worth roughly $10.7 million and don’t even cover the cost of validator operation, SG&A, and Galaxy payments, let alone the company’s near-$1 billion loss on its SOL holdings.

Investors have noticed. “Is this the dumbest corporate crypto move ever?” asked one commenter in February. CoinGecko pointed out FWDI’s percentage loss was “4x larger than Strategy,” referencing the once-massive unrealized losses at Michael Saylor’s bitcoin treasury company.

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