Nasdaq-listed DeFi Development Corp taps liquid staking to scale Solana holdings

Solana-focused crypto treasury firm DeFi Development Corp. said that it has adopted liquid staking token (LST) technology to enhance its treasury management and validator operations.

In a statement released Wednesday, DeFi Development said it plans to allocate a portion of its SOL holdings into dfdvSOL, an LST built on staking infrastructure developed by liquid staking provider Sanctum. LSTs typically allow investors to retain asset liquidity while staking their tokens.

"This milestone makes DeFi Dev Corp. the first publicly traded company to own LSTs on Solana, further strengthening its position as the premier crypto-native treasury model for public market participants," the company said.

Parker White, the company's CIO and COO, noted that the adoption of dfdvSOL "creates additional ways to drive stake to our validators and increase SOL holdings."

DeFi Development Corp., formerly a real estate software firm known as Janover, rebranded and shifted its focus to Solana after a team of former Kraken executives acquired a majority stake in the company in April.

As part of its Solana push, the company closed a $24 million private placement earlier this month, with plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes and the continued accumulation of Solana.

With its last known purchase of 16,447 SOL on May 15, the company owns a total of 609,190 SOL, worth about $105.8 million based on current market prices.

Meanwhile, DeFi Development's stock fell 16.95% on the Nasdaq, closing at $22.19 on Wednesday, according to Yahoo Finance data.

Solana's price traded down 0.7% in the past 24 hours at $173.4 at press time, according to The Block's SOL price page. It has a market capitalization of $90.3 billion, making it the sixth-largest cryptocurrency.