Forward Industries Pulls a SOL-Backed Leveraged Buyback, Thanks Galaxy for the Crypto Credit

Forward Industries, the publicly traded firm with a Solana-centric treasury that's probably more SOL than soul, announced a share-repurchase program financed by a crypto-backed loan from Galaxy Digital LLC. The move highlights how digital assets are slipping into the mainstream of corporate finance, which is basically just using your crypto bag as a credit card.

The company will buy back 6,164,324 shares of its common stock for roughly $27.4 million, trimming the share count to 76,977,809. The seller is an unnamed institutional investor; attempts to identify the buyer went unanswered, likely because they were busy checking their staking rewards. Public filings show only six institutions hold enough Forward stock to supply that volume, including Galaxy Digital LP (8.68 M shares as of Sept. 18 2025) and Galaxy Group Investments LLC (8.11 M shares as of Feb. 18 2026).

To fund the buyback, Forward secured a $40 million loan from Galaxy Digital LLC at a 3.4 % interest rate. The loan is collateralized by the company’s 7,013,536 SOL holdings, valued at about $613 million at current market prices. This structure lets Forward tap liquidity without liquidating its crypto stash, while it continues to earn yield from staking—a classic “don’t sell, just borrow against it” degen move.

The repurchase falls under a November-approved authorization that permits up to $1 billion of buybacks on an ongoing basis, aimed at providing financial flexibility amid heightened crypto volatility. Solana’s price has slipped below $90, and Forward’s stock is down 87 % from its September peak, which is basically the corporate version of getting rugged.

Forward began aggressively loading up on Solana last year, when crypto-treasury strategies were in vogue during the bull market. It now boasts the largest publicly traded SOL treasury, a position shared by at least 18 other public companies, making them the ultimate bagholder club. By February, those firms collectively held more than $1.5 billion in unrealized losses tied to the broader crypto downturn, with Forward accounting for roughly $972 million of that figure. It remains the biggest public holder of Solana, a title that currently feels like holding the hottest potato.

Industry observers warn that the sector’s volatility could trigger consolidation among crypto-treasury companies. Declining crypto prices have pushed many firms’ valuations below the worth of the digital assets they guard, and limited cash flow makes sustaining operations increasingly tough, which is what happens when your entire business model is “hope the price goes up.”