DeFi Development Unveils $300M CHAD Preferred Offering to Expand SOL Treasury

DeFi Development Corp. has added 55,491 SOL to its balance sheet, a purchase it valued at about $57.8 million based on its stated metrics, lifting its SOL treasury to roughly 2,388,923 SOL and SOL-equivalent assets, CoinDesk reported. The Nasdaq-listed firm (DFDV) also launched a $300 million at-the-market preferred share program for its new instrument, CHAD, with net proceeds expected to be used primarily to buy additional SOL. The company said its SOL holdings are up about 2% since August 27, when it held roughly 2.33 million SOL. DeFi Development describes itself as a U.S.-listed company focused on a Solana accumulation strategy and operates its own validator infrastructure to earn staking rewards. CHAD is a newly issued variable-rate Series C perpetual preferred stock trading under the ticker CHAD. The company said the structure allows it to raise capital without increasing common shares outstanding, avoiding direct dilution to common shareholders. CEO Joseph Onorati tied the approach to the firm's "accumulation flywheel," in which financing is used to purchase SOL, generate yield, and reinvest to support further growth. The company plans to issue shares at a par value of $10 per share or higher. CHAD's first financing closed on September 8, raising about $11 million, with participants including Fundstrat's Tom Lee. The company had earlier set a $20 million target for the offering on September 1 and initially indicated $9 per share in a preliminary prospectus; final pricing was set at $8 per share, bringing the raise to about $11 million. Over the same period, DeFi Development disclosed the purchase of 19,000 SOL, partly funded through the sale of its ZeroStack holdings, which brought its SOL treasury to around 2.33 million SOL ahead of the latest update. The company said proceeds from the CHAD at-the-market program will be used mainly to continue purchasing SOL, consistent with how it used funds from the September 8 CHAD financing, as it continues tapping capital markets to grow its SOL holdings. An at-the-market issuance typically allows a company to sell securities in tranches when conditions are favorable, rather than raising the full amount in a single transaction.