Crypto treasury firm Forward Industries plans to deploy funds in Solana DeFi protocols

Forward Industries, a Nasdaq-listed firm that recently became a Solana treasury company, plans to deploy its funds into growing Solana's DeFi ecosystem.

This came from Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani, who was appointed as chairman of Forward Industries.

Prominent crypto trader and online personality Ansem wrote in a post on X Sunday that investing corporate treasury funds into Solana-native DeFi protocols would bolster the network's standing against Ethereum.

"This is the game plan," Samani wrote in response to Ansem's post.

Multicoin Capital, alongside Galaxy Digital and Jump Crypto, led a $1.65 billion private placement in Forward Industries last week. The private placement closed on Thursday with the three companies collectively subscribing over $300 million.

The three companies previously announced that their ultimate goal is to position Forward Industries as the foremost publicly traded institutional participant in the Solana ecosystem.

While Forward Industries has not yet announced its first SOL purchase, public treasuries collectively hold over 4.7 million SOL as of Sept. 14, according to The Block's data dashboard.

Solana became a leading contender against Ethereum in recent years, offering faster transaction speed and lower fees to developers and users.

However, Ethereum remains significantly ahead of Solana in terms of total value locked in network DeFi protocols. Ethereum's 1601 protocols hold over $96 billion in DeFi TVL, while Solana's 363 protocols have around $13 billion, according to DefiLlama data.