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Forward Industries Struck Out on All Three Solana Acquisition Bids

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Ahmed Barakat

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Ahmed Barakat

Part of the Team Since

Aug 2025

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Ahmed Balaha is a journalist and copywriter based in Georgia with a growing focus on blockchain technology, DeFi, AI, privacy, digital assets, and fintech innovation.


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News coming from Forward Industries (NASDAQ: FWDI), the largest publicly traded Solana treasury company by SOL holdings, as they proposed all-stock acquisitions to three rival firms. They were rejected or ignored by all of them, a complete shutout that makes the company’s consolidation thesis look considerably harder to execute than management had signaled.

The outcome leaves Forward sitting on more than 7 million SOL purchased at an average well above current market prices, with no external growth to show for its M&A push.

The three targets were Solana Company (NASDAQ: HSDT), Brera Holdings (NASDAQ: SLMT), and SkyAI (NASDAQ: SKYA), formerly known as Sharps Technology.

Each holds its own SOL treasury, and each is now independently listed after declining to accept FWDI equity as consideration.

In crypto M&A terms, Forward offered HSDT shareholders 0.386 FWDI shares per HSDT share, implying roughly $1.63 per share, a 10% premium to HSDT’s prior close.

SLMT holders were offered 1.54 FWDI shares per share, implying $7.19 and a 30.7% premium to Brera’s 10-day VWAP. SKYA was offered 0.367 FWDI shares per share at an implied $1.55, a 20% premium to its prior close of $1.29.

Brera’s board rejected the offer on June 6, stating the proposal was not in the company’s best interest. Solana Company’s board voted to decline around June 12 and chose not to engage in further discussion. SkyAI simply did not respond before the June 12 expiration date.

“We are disappointed and surprised that the HSDT board has chosen to reject Forward’s offer without any discussion or communication. We believe that opening up a dialogue is in the best interest of both companies and their respective shareholders.”

Forward issued that statement regarding the Solana Company rejection, adding that “the current market environment necessitates cooperation and strategic action to deliver on promises made to our shareholders.”

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Solana News: The Arithmetic Behind the Rejections

Forward acquired nearly 7 million SOL last year for approximately $1.6 billion, with an average entry of around $232 per token.

With SOL trading near $75 on Monday, that position carries more than $1 billion in unrealized losses. The all-stock structure of each bid means target shareholders would receive FWDI equity, which is itself a leveraged proxy on a deeply underwater SOL position.

That context almost certainly explains why three separate boards declined without negotiating. Accepting FWDI shares means inheriting that loss overhang through diluted equity rather than a clean SOL holding.

The dynamic is not unlike the pressure Strategy has navigated with its Bitcoin treasury, where large unrealized losses compress the equity premium and make stock-based acquisitions a harder sell.

Forward’s $4 billion at-the-market offering program gives it capital firepower to continue accumulating SOL directly, but it does not resolve the governance friction that made every target walk away from these proposals.

The Solana DAT micro-sector now holds roughly 16.2 million SOL across approximately six public companies, with Forward’s ~7 million well ahead of rivals like Upexi (~2.4 million SOL) and the HSDT and SKYA treasuries in the 2.0–2.3 million SOL range.

Forward’s pitch was effectively to consolidate that fragmented exposure into a single, dominant entity, a quasi-ETF proxy for institutional equity investors who want SOL exposure through a listed vehicle.

The targets have so far decided they are worth more independence. That calculus could shift if SOL rallies substantially from current levels and narrows Forward’s unrealized loss, but at $75, the argument is a difficult one to make in a boardroom

Monday’s Rally Lifted All Four Stocks Simultaneously

The rejection news landed alongside a broad market move driven by a U.S.-Iran peace deal announcement that pushed risk assets higher across the board.

SOL gained nearly 11% in 24 hours to trade around $75, lifting every stock in the Solana treasury complex.

FWDI jumped more than 14% to $4.89. SKYA surged 14%, HSDT gained nearly 12%, and SLMT rose more than 7% to $4.71.

Source: FWDIUSD / Tradingview

The symmetrical move is its own signal: when the macro catalyst is large enough, all four tickers move together regardless of deal status, which partly undermines Forward’s consolidation rationale in the first place.

The broader trend of crypto treasury equities creating idiosyncratic risk for public companies is playing out across multiple tokens, AVAX treasury vehicle AVAT has demonstrated similar price volatility dynamics since its Nasdaq debut, underscoring how concentrated single-token treasury exposure translates directly into equity price swings.

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