SkyAI sold about 2 million SOL at an average net price of $107.20 and expanded its cash tender offer to about $214.3 million after settling with activist investor Bastion Trading. SOL was trading near $101.70.
Companies that raised money to buy crypto were among the biggest new buyers of tokens over the past year. SkyAI has shown what the trade looks like in reverse.
The Nasdaq-listed company, which had built a treasury of Solana's SOL token, said it sold about 2 million SOL at an average price, net of fees, of $107.20 in the period leading up to its offer. It no longer holds any SOL. It has expanded a cash tender offer for its shares and warrants and, if all securities sought are tendered, will pay about $214.3 million, funded from about $223 million of cash on hand. The $3.00-a-share offer has been extended to Nov. 12.
How the activist got there
The expanded offer is part of a settlement with Bastion Trading, an activist shareholder. Bastion agreed to tender all its shares and warrants and to a three-year standstill. SkyAI raised the share of pre-funded warrants it will buy to 100% of each class and added stapled warrants to the offer. The company has also ruled out buying SOL again, according to reports.
SkyAI's shares closed at $2.91 on Tuesday, below the $3.00 offer.
The pattern behind it
The logic of a crypto treasury company works when its shares trade above the value of the tokens it owns. The company can then sell stock at a premium and buy more tokens. When the shares trade below the value of the holdings, that logic reverses: shareholders gain more from selling the tokens and returning cash than from holding on. Activists have an incentive to force that outcome.
SkyAI is small, but the direction matters. A buyer of tokens has become a seller. SOL traded at about $101.70 on Wednesday, below SkyAI's average sale price.
Isolated or the start of a trend?
One reading is that this is a warning for the sector: treasury companies whose shares trade below their asset values are exposed to activists who can force them to sell, which would turn a source of demand into a source of supply.
The other is that it is one small company resolving a governance dispute. Its SOL has already been sold, so there is no further selling to come from SkyAI, and larger treasury companies have different structures and shareholders.
What to watch
The tender offer's results after Nov. 12, whether activists target other treasury companies trading below asset value, Strategy's results on Thursday, and flows into U.S. Solana funds.