Solana Treasury Firm DeFi Development Keeps Buying SOL as CHAD Preferred Stock Hits Record – Decrypt

DeFi Development Corp, the Nasdaq-listed Solana piggy bank, added about 22,070 SOL—worth about $2,373,211—and “SOL equivalents” to its treasury last week, according to a press release published Monday.

That brings its stash to roughly 2,586,282 tokens, worth about $287 million with SOL near $111. Weekly buys keep shrinking, from 101,381 SOL in mid-September (around $11.4 million) to 47,706 ($5.8 million), then 26,202 ($3.1 million).

DFDV is a digital asset treasury company, a public firm that holds a cryptocurrency so stock investors can bet on it without opening a crypto account. It was a real estate software firm called Janover until April 2025, when it pivoted to Solana and copied Strategy’s Bitcoin playbook.

CHAD, the company’s perpetual preferred stock, hit all-time highs in the week ended October 9 and is approaching $10. Perpetual preferred shares never mature and get dividends before common stock; CHAD pays a variable 13% a year on its $10 stated amount, or $1.30 per share, declared each business day.

“CHAD reaching new highs and approaching $10.00 even as SOL pulled back is an encouraging sign that investors are recognizing its distinct income proposition,” said Dan Kang, Chief Strategy Officer. “For common shareholders, CHAD provides a funding source that can support accretive SOL per share growth without issuing additional common shares. For CHAD holders, it offers daily income supported by that growing, productive treasury,” he added.

That record sounds less dramatic once you know the shares priced their IPO at $8 in September, below their own stated amount. Last week DFDV even authorized buybacks for whenever CHAD trades under its $10 par value. Mission nearly accomplished.

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The price matters because DFDV funds its SOL purchases through a $300 million at-the-market program, which sells new CHAD shares gradually at market prices. The closer CHAD trades to $10, the more SOL each new share buys.

“Short-term volatility has not changed our conviction or our commitment to accumulating SOL,” CEO Joseph Onorati said in the release.

SOL fell about 9% over seven days, and nearly $1 billion in long positions, or bets that prices would rise, were liquidated in 24 hours. Liquidation is forced selling: when traders bet with borrowed money and prices fall far enough to wipe out their collateral, exchanges close the bet automatically, pushing prices lower still.

A 13% dividend looks generous, but CHAD is backed by a company whose main asset trades about 62% below its January 2025 peak of roughly $295. The release itself warns that staking rewards may not be enough to cover dividends.

DFDV’s common stock traded near $4.41 on Monday, a market value of about $140 million—roughly half the value of its SOL, though it also carries debt. When a treasury company trades below its crypto stash, selling shares to buy tokens stops making sense, one reason the sector is under pressure.

CHAD holders will keep collecting $0.00516 per share for each business day through October 30, and the next macro test arrives Wednesday with the U.S. September inflation report.