New BONK Treasury Targets Up to $115 Million in Solana Meme Coin by Year-End

Safety Shot Inc., a healthy beverage company, is set to receive $25 million worth of BONK from the founding contributors of the Solana meme coin. By the end of the year, the company aims to acquire up to $115 million worth of the Solana meme coin.

It is the latest in a long line of publicly traded companies pivoting to create crypto treasuries, first starting with Bitcoin and, more recently, expanding to the fringes of the industry.

Traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker SHOT, the wellness company has slumped 92% from its all-time high of $8.88 in early 2021 to just $0.6883, according to TradingView. It currently has a market capitalization of $82.7 million. By comparison, BONK’s market cap is above $2 billion.

The move will see BONK founding contributors “deeply integrate” into the Safety Shot company. This includes pseudonymous core contributor Nom, who will be joining Safety Shot in a strategic capacity to assist with the accumulation of BONK, as well as to advise on how to operate on-chain. Exact details of this arrangement are to be announced.

“Since BONK’s initial airdrop, there has been no fundraise or accessible way for many investors, traditional companies, or funds to ‘invest’ in BONK without holding the native token,” Nom told Decrypt. “This is a way to hold exposure to BONK for many in traditional accounts. It acts as a further step towards being approved in the accepted regulatory framework, solidifying a diverse set of owners of the token, and will act as a foundational part of BONK as an investable asset for the future.”

After FTX collapsed in November 2022, Solana was in a dire state due to Sam Bankman-Fried’s public support of the blockchain. Amid the wreckage, a group decided to create BONK as a “community coin” airdropped to Solana developers and community members around Christmas time. Many believe it helped save Solana from what appeared to be certain death.

Safety Shot decided to pivot to become a BONK treasury company thanks to its exclusive financial advisor, Dominari Securities, LLC., Nom told Decrypt. Dominari Securities also aided with the formation of a Tron treasury company. Nom added that the BONK treasury company had been in the works for “months,” and Monday’s $25 million announcement is just the first step.

The treasury company trend follows the success of Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, which started buying up Bitcoin in 2020. Previously a middling business intelligence software company, it has since continued acquiring BTC, which has seen its stock skyrocket in value as Bitcoin broke new all-time highs.

Seeing this success, several failing companies have adopted the crypto treasury strategy. 

Most notably, SharpLink Gaming was close to being delisted before it raised $425 million to buy Ethereum and brought in Consensys CEO and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin to its board of directors. Its stock, SBET, surged more than 4,340% from $2.79 to $124.12 on the announcement, but has since fallen 79% to $25.70 in the months following, according to TradingView.

(Disclosure: Consensys is one of 22 investors in an editorially independent Decrypt.)

The argument for Ethereum treasury companies is that ETH can be used to produce yield, and trusting a group of experts to get the best yield may be worth the premium you pay. However, Nom said, this will not be the case with Safety Shot’s BONK treasury, at least at first. 

At this stage, he explained, the company is focusing on acquiring approximately “4% to 5%” of the BONK supply by the end of the year, before exploring yield-generating options. At today’s prices, that would be up to $115 million worth of BONK.

“There have been massive successes like Strategy and [BitMine] that are inspirations for much of these companies,” Nom said. “But as we go further down the asset list, we need to ensure the quality is as high as possible, and ensure that these companies don’t become future forced sellers.”

As such, he explained, Safety Shot is expected to announce new revenue generation channels in the future. And, it’s going to need it as the stock has tanked 51% in value following the announcement.