DeFi Development Buys $16M SOL at $111, But Stock Value Per Share Drops 25%

DeFi Development Corp. purchased 86,307 SOL for approximately $16 million at an average price of $110.91, increasing its treasury by 4.7% to 2,195,926 SOL worth $426 million.

However, the Nasdaq-listed firm’s SOL per share metric dropped to $14.67 from $19.44 recorded in September, a 25% decline despite the accumulation.

The company reported 28,888,178 shares outstanding, although the figure includes 2,803,058 pre-funded warrants that have already been exercised, with 2,978,578 warrants remaining.

Including all warrants, the adjusted share count reaches approximately 31.9 million, creating dilution that outpaced treasury growth.

DeFi Development stated it does not anticipate SOL per share falling below the pre-financing level of 0.0675 “even after full warrant impact—reinforcing continued SPS growth.“

The newly acquired SOL will be staked to validators, including the company’s own infrastructure, to generate native yield.

The treasury decline followed broader struggles across digital asset treasury companies.

Metaplanet’s shares dropped 70% from mid-June highs, with its enterprise value falling below Bitcoin reserves as mNAV hit 0.99.

A quarter of all public Bitcoin holders now trade at market values below their holdings.

Crypto Treasury mNAV Premiums Compress Sector-Wide

DeFi Development ranks among the three largest public Solana holders, though Forward Industries leads with nearly 7 million tokens, more than the next three largest treasuries combined.

Institutional Solana holdings exceed $3 billion across 20 participants, representing about 3.52% of the circulating supply.

The company’s stock performance contrasts with its aggressive accumulation strategy.

Shares remain up 1,898% year-to-date but trade 61% below their May peak of $35.53, a pattern observed across digital asset treasuries facing valuation compression.

K33 Research reports that the average mNAV across treasury firms dropped from 3.76 in April to 2.8, while daily Bitcoin accumulation slowed to 1,428 BTC in September, the weakest pace since May.

Monthly corporate adoption has also declined by 95% since July, with just one company adopting Bitcoin in September, compared to 21 in July.

Strategy Inc.’s mNAV premium crashed from 3.89x in November 2024 to 1.44x following IBIT ETF options launch.

The bellwether firm’s monthly Bitcoin purchases plummeted from 134,000 BTC to 3,700 BTC in August 2025, although it holds 640,250 BTC, with unrealized gains of over $24 billion.

Buyback Programs and Warrant Dilution Create Competing Pressures

DeFi Development expanded its share repurchase program to $100 million in September, up from an initial authorization of $1 million.

The board approved flexible buybacks under Rule 10b-18, with an initial $10 million threshold requiring management notification before proceeding.

The company has raised $42 million since April to fund its Solana strategy through a $5 billion equity line of credit, with only 0.4% of the amount utilized.

It recently closed a $125 million equity raise while simultaneously pursuing buybacks, creating competing pressures on share value.

DeFi Development was founded by former Kraken employees and executes a strategy of buying and staking SOL and Solana-related tokens, including Dogwifhat memecoin.

The firm offers validator services for crypto exchange Kraken and participates in DeFi opportunities across Solana’s ecosystem.

As a result of these broader problems with digital asset treasuries, several treasury companies resorted to debt-funded buybacks.

ETHZilla secured $80 million from Cumberland DRW for a $250 million buyback after its value fell 76% from August peaks.

Empery Digital expanded its debt facility to $85 million, despite holding $476 million in Bitcoin, which exceeds its $378 million market cap.

Particularly for assets without yields, such as Bitcoin, VanEck has previously warned in June that companies approaching parity with their holdings risk “erosion” rather than “capital formation,” recommending that they pause share issuances if stocks trade below 0.95x NAV for 10 or more trading days.

Just last month, Coinbase Research also warned that the treasury sector is transitioning from guaranteed premiums to a “player-versus-player” competitive phase, where most participants face potential failure during adverse credit cycles.

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