Citadel founder and CEO, billionaire Ken Griffin, has revealed a 4.5% stake in DeFi Development Corp. (DFDV), a digital asset treasury firm focused on accumulating Solana.
According to a Schedule 13G filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Griffin owns just over 1.3 million shares, representing approximately 4.5% of DeFi Development’s outstanding common stock.
Separately, Citadel Advisors LLC and affiliated companies reported owning 800,000 shares of DFDV stock, representing approximately 2.7% of the company’s outstanding shares.
The disclosure adds to more evidence of Wall Street’s growing involvement in digital assets. A recent a16z Crypto report highlights accelerating adoption by institutional investors, citing companies such as BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Fidelity, and Citigroup increasing their activity in the space.
Citadel Advisors LLC serves as the investment management division of Citadel Hedge Fund Group and is an SEC-registered investment advisor. Citadel manages an estimated $65 billion in assets across a variety of funds.
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Competition among digital asset treasury companies intensifies
DeFi Development Corp. has emerged as the second-largest Solana (SOL) financial company, part of a small but growing group of companies competing to accumulate digital assets.
In early September, the company raised $117 million worth of SOL in eight days, taking its holdings in government bonds to over $400 million.
According to CoinGecko, in the past 30 days, DeFi Development Corp. added 86,307 SOL, bringing its total holdings to 2,195,926 SOL. Although the value of these holdings has since fallen below $400 million due to the market-wide stock market decline, the company’s cost basis of approximately $236 million means it is still profitable.
The only company with larger Solana funds is Forward Industries, which holds approximately 6.82 million SOL, nearly three times more than DeFi Development Corp.
The rise of digital asset treasury (DAT) strategies reflects a growing trend of companies seeking to strengthen their balance sheets and investor appeal through exposure to high-growth crypto assets. But analysts warn that this strategy comes with significant risks.
David Duong, head of institutional research at Coinbase, told Cointelegraph that “regulatory changes, liquidity and market pressures” could lead to more consolidation across the digital asset treasury sector, with larger players absorbing smaller rivals.
Analysts at Standard Chartered have warned that many DAT companies could face a valuation crisis as their market net asset value (mNAV) declines. mNAV measures a company’s market value relative to its cryptocurrency holdings. A prolonged market downturn could make it difficult for DAT to raise new funds to expand its treasury.
Standard Chartered specifically singled out DeFi Development Corp. among the companies experiencing valuation compression as the sector adapts to new market realities.
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