Solana treasury firm SkyAI sells 1 million SOL, plans $201 million share buyback

Solana treasury company SkyAI has sold approximately 1 million SOL, or half of its cryptocurrency reserves, as it prepares a cash tender offer worth up to $201 million to repurchase most of its outstanding shares and warrants.

According to an October 11 company announcement, the Nasdaq-listed firm plans to use existing cash and proceeds from Solana sales to purchase up to 95% of its common stock and three classes of warrants at $3 each.

SkyAI, which trades under the ticker SKYA, confirmed that it had recently sold roughly 1 million SOL and still held approximately 1 million tokens when the announcement was issued. The company said it was monitoring Solana’s market price and could sell more tokens depending on market conditions.

Blockchain analyst Ember reported on October 12 that another 211,623 SOL had been transferred from a wallet associated with SkyAI to Coinbase Prime.

The analyst estimated that approximately 1.25 million SOL, worth $138 million, had been sold or moved toward trading venues over five days. However, the latest exchange transfer does not independently establish that the tokens were sold.

SkyAI’s Solana sales follow several large exchange transfers

The latest activity follows a series of transactions identified by blockchain analysts over the preceding days.

In an October 10 post on X, Ember reported that wallets linked to SkyAI had transferred 468,000 SOL, valued at approximately $51.1 million, within 24 hours.

Of that amount, 218,000 SOL went to multiple centralized exchanges, while another 250,000 SOL was transferred to BitGo, an institutional digital asset custody and services provider.

On the same day, Lookonchain identified 568,000 SOL worth approximately $63.87 million moving to exchanges over a three-day period.

The analytics platform estimated that SkyAI had acquired its SOL at an average price of around $194 per token. Based on the market value of the transferred assets, Lookonchain calculated that selling the reported 568,000 SOL could result in losses of approximately $46 million.

The estimate was conditional on the tokens being sold and did not represent a company-confirmed realized loss.

SkyAI had previously disclosed holdings exceeding 2 million SOL in September, before the recent transactions reduced its reported treasury balance.

Large movements involving corporate Solana holdings have attracted attention in previous months. In June, crypto.news reported that Forward Industries transferred 455,784 SOL, worth approximately $31.9 million, to Coinbase Prime after around a month of wallet inactivity.

The transaction prompted questions about possible treasury sales, although the transfer itself did not establish that Forward had liquidated those assets.

SkyAI plans to repurchase 95% of its shares and warrants

SkyAI’s proposed tender offer is expected to begin around October 15 and remain open for 10 business days, unless the company extends or terminates it earlier.

The offer covers up to 46.37 million common shares and approximately 20.72 million securities across its cash pre-funded warrants, cryptocurrency pre-funded warrants and strategic advisor warrants.

At $3 per security, the maximum purchase price would reach approximately $201 million.

SkyAI said the proposed price represented a 65% premium to its October 9 closing share price and more than double its 60-day volume-weighted average trading price.

The company intends to finance the repurchases without additional borrowing. Its board said the combined value of available cash and digital assets exceeded the maximum amount required for the transaction.

Completion will depend on several conditions, including at least 50% of each eligible securities class being tendered and not withdrawn before the deadline.

Solana’s closing price must remain above $100 throughout the offer period, although SkyAI reserved the right to waive certain conditions.

The tender offer must not cause SkyAI to lose its Nasdaq listing or become subject to deregistration under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Shareholders and warrant holders will receive instructions in formal tender offer materials that SkyAI expects to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by October 15.

If participation exceeds the 95% purchase limit for any class, the company expects to accept securities on a proportional basis.

SkyAI has suspended purchases under its existing share repurchase program and will not resume separate repurchases until at least 10 business days after the tender offer expires.

SkyAI rejects Forward Industries’ acquisition proposal

The planned buyback follows SkyAI’s decision to reject another unsolicited acquisition proposal from fellow Solana treasury company Forward Industries.

Under the latest proposal, Forward offered 0.306 shares of its common stock for each SkyAI share.

SkyAI said its special committee, working with independent advisers, reviewed the proposed exchange ratio, the value and timing of the consideration, its financial position and its standalone business prospects.

After the review, the committee unanimously recommended rejecting the transaction. The full board agreed, concluding that Forward’s proposal undervalued SkyAI and was not in shareholders’ best interests.

Forward has pursued a different approach to managing its Solana reserves. In July, the company reported buying more than 500,000 SOL during its fiscal third quarter, taking its holdings to 7.55 million tokens as of June 30.

The company disclosed an average purchase price of approximately $79 for those acquisitions and said its Solana holdings per fully diluted share had risen during the quarter.

Forward subsequently completed a $25 million registered direct offering in September to support its Solana treasury strategy.

Other publicly traded Solana holders have reported losses tied to cryptocurrency valuations. Upexi, for example, disclosed a $109.3 million fiscal third-quarter net loss in May, including a $92.3 million unrealized loss on its digital assets.

SkyAI said shareholders whose ownership exceeds 15% solely because of securities purchased through the tender offer would not trigger its shareholder rights plan. Any subsequent acquisition by those holders after the offer expires would trigger the plan.

Following the proposed transaction, the company intends to continue developing the AI financial platform outlined in its May 2026 strategic transformation announcement.