Solana Gets 'Solmate' via $300 Million Treasury Firm as Stock Surges 500%

By Mat Di Salvo

The race to build the biggest Solana treasury is on. Nasdaq-listed sports holding company Brera Holdings said Thursday that it will pivot to a Solana-based digital asset treasury, changing its name to Solmate. And now its stock is skyrocketing.

Brera, which buys football and volleyball clubs, said it had raised $300 million via a private investment in a public equity round, with Ark Invest, the Solana Foundation, and RockawayX all backing the company. United Arab Emirates-based Pulsar Group led the funding round. 

The firm's stock—which trades under the ticker BREA—rocketed on the news and was recently up 500% on the day, with shares priced at close to $46. Shares have since settled to a price of about $40. Brera said it expected dual listings on the Nasdaq and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange once it converts to Solmate.

Brera said it would continue to run its multi-club sports ownership business while working to establish the United Arab Emirates as the global capital of the Solana ecosystem. 

"Solmate is not just another treasury," said Solmate CEO Marco Santori, who was previously Chief Legal Officer at crypto exchange Kraken. "It will execute on a durably differentiated strategy in a crowded field of look-alike digital asset treasuries by building real crypto infrastructure in the UAE."

The company is the latest publicly traded firm to pivot to buying and holding crypto. A number of firms have bought Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other altcoins to get better returns for shareholders. Such firms have often seen their share prices soar—albeit sometimes briefly—after announcing crypto treasury pivots.

Brera's move would make it one of the biggest Solana treasuries. A number of other public companies have started adding billions of dollars in the cryptocurrency to their balance sheets. The largest, Forward Industries, picked up 6.22 million SOL this week to lead the list, with the holdings now valued at $1.7 billion.

SOL is the native coin of the Solana blockchain, a crypto network that competes with Ethereum. Developers use the blockchain to build everything from crypto exchanges and meme coins to games with tokenized, user-owned assets. 

The asset has gained popularity in recent years due to its low cost and high speeds, with even the likes of Visa announcing it would use the network to speed up credit card payments. 

SOL was recently trading for a little over $249 per coin, according to CoinGecko data, after rising 6% over a 24-hour period. It’s up 39% over the last month alone. The coin's all-time high—which it hit in January—was over $293. 

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