The world’s largest publicly-traded Solana treasury company has lost roughly $1 billion holding $SOL, despite earning 6.7% staking rewards.

Forward Industries launched its Solana treasury strategy on September 8, 2025 — months after the crypto treasury bubble had already popped. The company raised $1.65 billion through a private placement led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital. Multicoin co-founder Kyle Samani personally added $25 million and became chairman.

“Our strategy to build an active Solana treasury program underscores our conviction in the long-term potential of $SOL,” the company declared at the time. That day, $SOL was trading at $206. Today, $SOL trades at $91.

The numbers behind the loss

Forward Industries currently holds 6,979,967 $SOL. Its average cost basis sits near $232. At current prices, those tokens are worth about $635 million, meaning roughly $955 million in unrealized losses on the initial $1.59 billion cost basis.

The company’s 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2025 revealed a $585.65 million net loss. For the same quarter a year earlier, the loss was just $708,000. Of that recent loss, $560.2 million came from an unrealized loss on digital assets — i.e., the disastrous performance of $SOL. The company also recorded $33 million in impairment on fwdSOL, its own liquid-staking token, which tracks the price of $SOL.

Those losses were offset by only $17.4 million in staking revenue. That $17.4 million represents the 5-7% variable staking rewards that often dominate the company’s marketing materials about its so-called treasury strategy.

Investor confidence evaporates

The strategy is bleeding investor confidence. The company’s stock, which reached $46 per share on September 12, 2025 after its PIPE fundraise, now trades at $4.71.

Forward’s market cap-to-Net Asset Value (mNAV) multiple has collapsed to 0.62x. That means investors are willing to pay less for the company than the $SOL it holds. Depending on the valuation metric used, the market values the entire company at 17% or 38% less than its $SOL.

Operating losses are relatively small but compound shareholder pain. Over just one quarter, the company spent $1.398 million running its Solana validator, $3.25 million in general and administrative expenses, another $3.4 million for G&A to a “related party” (Galaxy), and $535,000 on sales and marketing.

Fees pile up while losses mount

Forward Industries paid Galaxy $3.44 million in that single quarter alone: roughly $1.7 million in asset management fees at 0.6% per annum. Through December 31, the company had paid Galaxy about $4.37 million in fees. A good chunk of the staking yields went straight back to the third party that designed the vehicle.

To oversee these losses, CEO Michael Pruitt earned $873,817 in executive compensation across fiscal 2025, including a $713,817 options award. CFO Kathleen Weisberg earned $725,992. On April 13, 2026, an 8-K disclosed the hire of Mark Brazier as new CFO at $500,000 base pay plus a $250,000 targeted bonus.

Forward Industries has accumulated over 112,171 $SOL in staking rewards since inception, an advertised 6.73% APY before fees. At today’s price, those rewards are worth about $10.7 million — not enough to cover validator operation, SG&A, and Galaxy payments, let alone the near-$1 billion loss on its $SOL holdings.

Investors have noticed. “Is this the dumbest corporate crypto move ever?” asked one commenter in February. CoinGecko pointed out FWDI’s percentage loss was “4x larger than Strategy,” referencing the once-massive unrealized losses at Michael Saylor’s bitcoin treasury company.