This article comes from:ThreadGuy

Compiled by Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina ); Translated by Azuma ( @azuma_eth )

Editor's Note: On September 8th, Beijing time, Nasdaq-listed Forward Industries (FORD) officially announced that it has secured $1.65 billion in cash and stablecoin commitments to launch its SOL-centric digital asset treasury strategy through a PIPE (Private Investment in Publicly Traded Assets) transaction. The financing was led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital, with participation from C/M Capital Partners, one of the company's largest existing shareholders.

With the completion of the financing, Multicoin Capital co-founder and managing partner Kyle Samani has become the chairman of the board of directors of Forward Industries, becoming a "leader" role similar to Tom Lee in the SOL market.

Earlier today, Kyle Samani participated in a podcast with industry-renowned influencer ThreadGuy. During the conversation, Kyle Samani talked about the startup story of Forward Industries, subsequent financing plans, and the agency's operational strategy.

The following is a Chinese translation of the podcast, compiled by Odaily. Some content has been edited for clarity.

• Host: Kyle, it's great to see you back on air. You've been on quite the media tour lately, how's that going?

Kyle Samani: Hello, it's an honor to be here. We're in Blitz mode right now , and it's one of the most exciting things I've ever done. We're having a blast and we have to give it our all.

• Host: You did, but I want to ask—how did this all happen? I remember you were a guest a month ago, and I asked you, "Solana needs a leader like Michael Saylor, and I think you should step up," but you responded with a PR-like response, "There are no plans at the moment." And now, a month later, this is happening... How did this happen?

Kyle Samani: Haha, I obviously couldn't share that a month ago, so I apologize to the audience. As for how this came about—my understanding of digital asset treasury companies has evolved, and ultimately led to this partnership with Forward Industries.

My understanding evolved along two main lines. First, I gradually realized that Strategy's approach was inherently risky. They leveraged their investments, requiring coupon payments and even principal repayments without any cash flow to support them. Bitcoin itself doesn't generate yield, while Solana is completely different. Staking SOL yields yield, and deploying USD assets in DeFi also generates yield. If I were to implement a perpetual preferred stock-like strategy, leveraging Solana's comprehensive ecosystem advantages made more sense. This model was also more consistent from a capital market perspective . This was a significant epiphany for me.

The second catalyst was SEC Chairman Paul Atkins’ July 31st speech on “The Crypto Plan.” For those of you who haven’t read the speech, check it out; it was essentially an internal address to the SEC’s approximately 4,000 employees. Atkins explicitly stated in his speech that “we will move the U.S. securities market onto the blockchain.” I began thinking about this “Crypto Plan” and gradually realized that migrating the securities market from the existing DTCC, Nasdaq, NIS, and broker/bank system to on-chain infrastructure like Solana, Kamino, and Phantom wouldn’t happen overnight. While I hoped Atkins could pull it off in the blink of an eye, it clearly required someone to push for execution. It suddenly occurred to me that as the leader of a public company, I was ideally positioned to realize this vision.

Our core goal is to build the world's most blockchain-native public company . Related activities fall into two broad categories: first, capital market participation, encompassing all equity-related activities, such as on-chain stock issuance, financing, dividends, shareholder governance, and so on. While I can't guarantee that all promises will be fulfilled, I remain optimistic. Second, core business operations, encompassing payroll, supplier payments, on-chain transactions, and the use of DeFi protocols, are within our unique position to implement these scenarios, becoming pioneers and demonstrating the feasibility of this path to the world.

• Host: I'd like to ask you a personal question. While I understand you have what it takes to be a leading figure in the Solana ecosystem (which is why I initially recommended you), why are you willing to take on this responsibility? You could be enjoying a comfortable life, and Multicoin's performance is already excellent. Why would you accept such a significant mission that could expose you to scrutiny and legal risks?

Kyle Samani: Because it's mission unfinished, it's that simple. Multicoin is about to turn eight, and with my previous experience, I've been in crypto for nearly a decade, and it's mission unfinished.

I believe there are two perspectives on capital allocators: 99% believe their role is simply to invest capital, leaving the execution team to work. Projects sometimes succeed, sometimes fail, and the capital allocator experiences profit or loss accordingly. The other perspective focuses on how to directly influence execution outcomes through capital investment. I'm a highly proactive person and firmly believe I belong to the second category.

The Crypto Initiative requires pioneers— if I don't take the lead, future progress will be delayed. I know this, so I must accelerate it with all my strength.

• Host: Let's focus on Forward Industries. How long did this fundraising and overall planning take?

Kyle Samani: Two weeks. We raised $1.65 billion in two weeks .

That sounds ridiculous, right? My schedule was completely messed up for those two weeks—and it's still a mess. I live on Mountain Time (UTC -7), while the big money is mostly on Eastern Time (UTC -4), so I often had to wake up at 6 a.m. to talk to institutional investors and have late-night meetings with Asian investors. We worked around the clock, and ultimately, it was a huge success. I have to thank the friends at Galaxy Digital and Jump for sticking with me every step of the way.

• Host: That sounds incredible. The fact that the fundraising was completed in two weeks indicates that there's a strong demand for these assets. Are people rushing to buy Solana, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies? What does this phenomenon indicate?

Kyle Samani: I understand what you're saying. We were hoping to move forward quickly. We could have extended the fundraising cycle by two weeks, which isn't legally prohibited, but as I said before— the mission isn't done yet, and I'm a stickler for efficiency . Based on our work schedule, last Monday was the earliest we could have launched. We had set that timeline two weeks prior, and we decided to use those two weeks to push the envelope, and we did.

Regarding market demand? I can only say that our team's background has investors incredibly excited. We're fortunate to have three strong yet distinct teams. Galaxy Digital is one of the top financial firms in the crypto space. As the largest counterparty, they handled the liquidation and lock-up sales of FTX's legacy SOL assets and have a leading block trading and staking operations team. Jump, on the other hand, is one of the largest trading firms in the world and the largest market maker in the cryptocurrency space. They're also developing Firedancer and have a deep investment in the Solana ecosystem. As for us, we are the largest VC in Solana itself and its ecosystem.

Everything just fell into place. We were like a dream team, ready to create something magical. Even before the official signing, the three of us were already collaborating. We were like clockwork, sprinting at full speed.

• Host: You deployed the funds incredibly quickly—I think it took about 48 hours? The average price was around $230. Was this planned? Did you just go on a buying spree? What was your specific deployment strategy?

Kyle Samani: I can't comment on the details of the operation. We officially announced in our press release yesterday that we purchased 6.82 million SOL. As for when and how we purchased it, I'm not in a position to disclose.

The only thing I can say is that I told everyone we wanted to be the most native on-chain company in the world, which means that the first SOL we bought had to be done on-chain - we bought the first $1 million of SOL with a market order on the Solana chain through Dflow. I published the relevant transaction ID on X earlier today, and it is also recorded in the press release.

• Host: An audience member asked if you have ever considered using Jupiter's fixed investment function?

Kyle Samani: We are aware of Jupiter's fixed investment feature, but our scale may not be suitable for using this tool.

• Host: Do you have any plans to raise more funds to continue buying more SOL?

Kyle Samani: I didn't do all this work just to raise $1.65 billion and call it a day. I was thinking much bigger.

• Host: Do you have a specific goal? For example, how much of the circulating supply of SOL does Forward Industries plan to acquire?

Kyle Samani: Not really. I don't think Michael Saylor anticipated that when Strategy started, their balance sheet would be $50 billion or $80 billion. What I've learned is that if things go well, they can be much bigger than what we anticipated, so I've always been much more ambitious than what we've become.

• Moderator: Since you've certainly drawn inspiration from pioneers who adopted similar architectures, like Strategy, are there any lessons we can learn from their experiences? Do you think Strategy, Tom Lee (BitMine), or other digital asset treasuries (DATs) have made strategic mistakes that you might be able to avoid or improve upon?

Kyle Samani: We do think there are areas where we can improve, but I won't go into detail on the podcast. We've discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each company in depth—different teams have their strengths and weaknesses, and no one is perfect or completely useless.

I respect the question, but as the chairman of a public company, my hands are somewhat tied and I have to work within the established constraints.

• Host: I'm curious—in your opening remarks, you mentioned that SOL is a superior asset class compared to BTC because it offers unparalleled yield potential. How do you understand this difference and design an actionable strategy? While you might not need to reveal specific plans, could you provide a general overview of the potential?

Kyle Samani: Yeah, I can't reveal the specifics, but I can say this - there are a ton of DeFi protocols on Solana that I think the audience is aware of, and we intend to leverage them. With the collective intelligence of Multicoin, Galaxy, and Jump, we have the ability to use these tools intelligently.

• Host: What strategies do you use to sell Solana’s narrative to the traditional financial community? For example, when appearing on traditional media like CNBC, how do you frame Solana’s narrative based on what the audience wants to hear?

Kyle Samani: We have always positioned Solana as the infrastructure for the Internet capital market.

I don't think "internet capital markets" is a gimmick; it's our vision. This vision encompasses many aspects: 24/7 operation, permissionlessness, and programmability. This means anyone with a phone in their pocket and an internet connection can trade any asset—even without a dedicated portal, through a Telegram chatbot or through a prediction market on TV while watching a football game. This is the vision of the internet capital markets, and Solana is the perfect foundation for realizing it.

Therefore, "Internet Capital Market" is the first pillar of our core narrative. If we break it down further, I would like to emphasize two specific dimensions.

First of all, there is the global securities trading volume. Currently, Solana can process about 10 billion transactions per day, which is enough to settle all global securities transactions that are finally completed . However, if all limit orders and order cancellations are added, it is still impossible to process all of them for the time being, so the mission has not yet been completed.

Next, let's talk about stablecoins. Ethereum often calls itself the "stablecoin chain," and Tom Lee frequently promotes this on television. While more stablecoins are issued on Ethereum, these funds rarely flow—capital without mobility is meaningless. It's like the Federal Reserve never talks about global wealth or national wealth; they only focus on GDP, which measures the velocity and turnover of capital. Solana's capital velocity and dollar turnover rate are far higher than other chains, and I believe these are the most critical metrics . To serve a global population of 8 billion, a more scalable public chain is needed—and Ethereum 20's TPS is clearly not up to the task.

• Host: Do you think Solana's vision of an "internet capital market" can effectively dispel the label of "meme coin scam chain"? Is this important for traditional finance and global markets?

Kyle Samani: It doesn't matter. The only people who say that are haters, and it's incredibly hypocritical. There are tons of scams on Ethereum (I don't want to get into that). It's just people being emotional, and the reality is, if you give people a permissionless financial market, they're going to do a lot of things you don't like—and you have to accept that.

Just as people with guns can lead to violence, this is an eternal truth. Haters will always find reasons to hate. What we need to do is look beyond the surface and focus on the essence of the technology —what can this technology achieve that traditional technologies can't? Of course, it's the core features—global access, 24/7 operation, permissionless operation, programmability, and the ability to scale to 8 billion people. These are the ones that matter.

• Host: I don't know if you noticed a subtle shift in community perception of Treasury when Tom Lee started promoting Worldcoin a while ago—a lot of people were thinking, "Wait, aren't you from the Ethereum camp?" Do you consider yourself a "Solana spokesperson"? While other assets are worth considering, Forward Industries is focused on investing in Solana. How do you view this positioning?

Kyle Samani: I think it's inaccurate to consider me the "face of Solana." Especially in the context of Strategy and Tom Lee, that label is inherently a statement about the past. I don't subscribe to statements that look backward, I prefer to look forward.

My logic is: who will shape the future of the internet capital market? And the best way to achieve this is to become a listed company. We will strive to realize our vision of the internet capital market by becoming the world's most native listed company.

Fortunately, Forward Industries is providing us with such a practical platform, just as the name of the company suggests - Don't look back, look forward (Forward).

…

(The sequel does not discuss Forward Industries anymore, but instead focuses on hot trends in the Solana ecosystem, such as PUMP. Those interested can watch the original video.)