Shares of Sharps Technology nearly doubled on Monday after the medical device manufacturer reported a $400 million initiative to establish a new treasury strategy centered around Solana’s native token. The stock surged 96% from $7.40 to a peak of $14.53 before settling at $12.01 at this time.
Sharps entered into a letter of intent with the Solana Foundation to acquire Solana (SOL) tokens through a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction — a financing method in which accredited investors purchase shares of a publicly traded company at a reduced price relative to the current market value.
This agreement, anticipated to finalize around August 28, will allow Sharps to secure $50 million in SOL tokens at a 15% discount to their 30-day average price.
Sharps Technology’s intraday performance on Nasdaq. Source: Yahoo Finance
Investors have the option to fund their allocations using either locked or unlocked SOL, and will receive pre-funded and stapled warrants in exchange, which connects equity exposure directly to Solana.
Additionally, Sharps announced the appointment of Jambo co-founder Alice Zhang as chief investment officer to steer this transition, along with adding James Zhang as a strategic adviser — both of whom are prominent figures in the Solana community.
Related: Galaxy Digital, Multicoin, Jump Crypto plan $1B Solana fund: Report
Health sector companies pivot to crypto treasuries
Crypto treasury firms are public companies that maintain digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) or SOL on their balance sheets, offering investors indirect exposure to crypto assets via their stocks. This concept was first articulated by Michael Saylor of Strategy in 2020, prompting numerous companies to adopt similar strategies.
The trend has recently gained momentum in the healthcare sector, where several small-cap and mid-cap companies have shifted towards crypto treasuries to diversify and attract investor interest.
In November 2024, Hoth Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company based in New York specializing in therapies for skin, cancer, and autoimmune diseases, announced a plan to allocate $1 million in Bitcoin as a treasury asset, positioning it as a hedge against inflation.
In March, Atai Life Sciences, a Nasdaq-listed biopharma focused on psychedelic mental health treatments, joined the trend with plans to purchase $5 million in Bitcoin, with founder Christian Angermayer stating in a Substack post that drug development is “cash-hungry” and obtaining regulatory approvals can take many years.
In July, 180 Life Sciences, a biotechnology firm working on anti-inflammatory treatments, rebranded as ETHZilla and unveiled intentions to create a $425 million Ether treasury after experiencing a 99% drop in stock value.
Charles Schwab, a Wall Street firm, recently cautioned in an educational video that companies investing significant amounts of cash in a historically volatile asset disconnected from their core business have raised several warning flags.
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