It seems like everyone wants to be the next MicroStrategy.
That title now belongs to a company literally renamed Strategy — the single largest corporate holder of bitcoin, with 528,185 BTC on its balance sheet as of March 31.
And now, Janover (JNVR), a Florida-based software firm previously focused on commercial mortgage tech, is taking a page from that playbook.
On Thursday, Janover announced a pivot to a digital asset treasury strategy, starting with a $4.6 million purchase of Solana (SOL), the native token of the high-speed decentralized finance (DeFi) blockchain.
“Our aim is to be the most efficient and transparent vehicle for crypto accumulation in the public markets,” CEO Joseph Onorati said. “Executing our first SOL purchase within days of completing our restructuring reflects that commitment.”
Investors jumped on the news. Janover stock soared 64.2% Thursday — the second-highest gainer of the day — and is now up a staggering 826.3% year to date.
New leadership, new ticker, and a DeFi makeover
Janover’s sudden pivot comes alongside a full-blown overhaul of its leadership and strategy. Earlier this week, Onorati was named CEO, and Parker White was appointed CIO and chief operating officer.
The two also took a controlling stake in the company, acquiring 728,632 shares of common stock and all 10,000 outstanding shares of Series A Preferred Stock.
Both Onorati and White are former employees at crypto exchange Kraken. Janover founder Blake Janover will stay on the company’s board, but the direction is clearly shifting.
The company said it used part of a recent $42 million financing round to fund the Solana purchase and plans to continue building its SOL position.
A name change is also in the works. Janover plans to rebrand as the DeFi Development Corporation and update its ticker symbol in the near future.
“Speed and clarity of execution are central to our model,” White said. “We believe today’s market conditions offered a compelling opportunity to take our first step.”
In an interview with CNBC, Onorati made the company’s ambitions clear, “Bitcoin has and always will be the most powerful store of value, but Solana is the foundation for an entirely new, high-performance financial system.
While bitcoin is optimized for security and scarcity, Solana is optimized for speed, usability, and programmability.”
It’s a bold bet. SOL has fallen 35.3% over the past 12 months and is down 40.7% year to date. But Janover isn’t alone. GameStop (GME) and MicroCloud Hologram (HOLO) have also made recent moves into crypto as they look to revive struggling businesses.
GameStop plans to use its $5 billion cash pile to buy bitcoin. MicroCloud recently said it had purchased up to $200 million in bitcoin and crypto-linked derivatives.
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