DeFi Development adds about 22,070 SOL and equivalents as CHAD reaches record high

DeFi Development Corp added about 22,070 SOL and SOL equivalents to its treasury last week, according to a press release published Monday. The addition was worth about $2,373,211. The purchase brought the company's holdings to roughly 2,586,282 tokens, worth about $287 million with SOL near $111.

The company's weekly purchases have been shrinking. DeFi Development bought 101,381 SOL in mid-September, worth around $11.4 million. Subsequent weekly purchases fell to 47,706 SOL, worth $5.8 million, and then 26,202 SOL, worth $3.1 million.

CHAD, the company's perpetual preferred stock, reached an all-time high in the week ended October 9 and is approaching $10. Perpetual preferred shares never mature and receive dividends before common stock. CHAD pays a variable 13% annually on its $10 stated amount, equivalent to $1.30 per share, with dividends declared each business day. CHAD holders will receive $0.00516 per share for each business day through October 30.

CHAD shares were priced at $8 in their September initial public offering, below their $10 stated amount. DeFi Development authorized buybacks last week for periods when CHAD trades below its $10 par value. DeFi Development funds SOL purchases through a $300 million at-the-market program that gradually sells new CHAD shares at market prices. A CHAD price closer to $10 allows each newly issued share to fund the purchase of more SOL.

Chief Strategy Officer Dan Kang said CHAD's record high despite SOL's decline suggests investors recognize CHAD's distinct income offering. Kang said CHAD can fund growth in SOL per common share without the company issuing additional common shares. Kang said CHAD holders receive daily income supported by the growing, productive treasury. CEO Joseph Onorati said short-term volatility had not changed the company's conviction or commitment to accumulating SOL.

SOL fell about 9% over seven days. Nearly $1 billion in long positions, or bets on rising prices, were liquidated in 24 hours. Exchanges automatically close leveraged positions when falling prices exhaust traders' collateral, creating forced selling that pushes prices lower. SOL, the company's main asset, trades about 62% below its January 2025 peak of roughly $295. The company's release warns that staking rewards may not be enough to cover dividends.

DFDV common stock traded near $4.41 on Monday, giving the company a market value of about $144 million against roughly $287 million in SOL. Another valuation put the company's market value at about $140 million, roughly half the value of its SOL holdings. DeFi Development also carries debt. Selling shares to buy tokens stops making financial sense when a treasury company trades below the value of its cryptocurrency holdings, contributing to pressure on the sector.

DeFi Development is a Nasdaq-listed digital asset treasury company that lets stock investors gain cryptocurrency exposure without opening a cryptocurrency account. DeFi Development was a real estate software company called Janover until April 2025, when the company shifted to Solana and adopted Strategy's Bitcoin treasury approach. The next macroeconomic test arrives Wednesday with the U.S. September inflation report.