Forward Industries Prepares Investment in Solana-Native DeFi Protocols

• Forward Industries Raises $1,65 Billion for Crypto Treasury
• Company intends to invest funds in Solana's DeFi protocols
• The goal is to consolidate institutional position against Ethereum

Forward Industries, a Nasdaq-listed company that recently repositioned itself as a treasury firm focused on the Solana network, announced plans to invest its resources in the growth of the blockchain's DeFi ecosystem. The initiative was confirmed by Kyle Samani, co-founder of Multicoin Capital and current president of Forward.

Last week, the company completed a $1,65 billion private placement, led by Multicoin Capital itself, along with Galaxy Digital and Jump Crypto. Together, the three asset managers contributed over $300 million, highlighting Forward Industries' ambition to transform it into a publicly traded institutional benchmark within the Solana ecosystem.

Samani reinforced the strategy in response to a post by trader and influencer Ansem no X, who stated that allocating corporate treasury funds to Solana's native protocols could strengthen the network's competitiveness against Ethereum. "This is the game plan," the executive wrote.

This is the game plan! https://t.co/Auu1HHx3I4

— Kyle Samani (@KyleSamani) September 14, 2025

Although Forward Industries has not yet announced a direct purchase of SOL, corporate treasuries collectively held over 4,7 million tokens as of September 14. This reinforces the movement of public treasuries to diversify and position themselves on alternative networks to Ethereum.

Solana has established itself in recent years as one of the main competitors to the network founded by Vitalik Buterin, offering lower transaction costs and greater processing power. Even so, the gap in terms of total value locked (TVL) across DeFi protocols remains significant. Ethereum currently hosts 1.601 protocols, which together account for over $96 billion in TVL, while Solana, with 363 protocols, holds approximately $13 billion, according to DefiLlama data .

Forward Industries' move signals a bet on an accelerated expansion of DeFi activity on Solana, supported by institutional liquidity and the growing interest of listed companies in adopting cryptocurrency treasury strategies as part of their growth models.