Helius Medical Technologies (NASDAQ: HSDT), nicknamed “the Solana Company,” now holds 2.2 million SOL valued at roughly 525 million dollars. The firm hired professional validators such as Twinstake to run nodes even as its stock price slid, shifting attention to how it handles its crypto pile and the impact on shareholders, custodians and compliance teams. To stay listed, HSDT also raised 9.1 million dollars and executed multiple reverse splits, most recently a 1-for-50 split in June 2025.
Staking means locking coins to help secure the chain while earning rewards. The company keeps almost all its cash in SOL and relies on outside specialists for validation work, with reports saying the move gives it a louder on-chain voice and opens the door for large investors. On 22–23 October 2025 the firm blamed “market volatility” for its falling share price, acknowledging the stock reacts quickly to both market mood and treasury decisions.
Institutional rails and competitive landscape
Other teams are targeting the same institutional crowd. Marinade Finance runs “Marinade Select,” a product built for institutions that pass KYC and store coins with BitGo, Copper or Zodia. SOL Strategies teamed up with Netcoins to shift onto enterprise-grade servers, while DeFi Dev Corp uses Sanctum tech to hold liquid staking tokens.
Exchange-traded products that pay staking rewards are pulling in money — the 21Shares Solana ETF took 40 million dollars and Solana-linked funds have gathered 1.16 billion dollars so far this year, even as headlines quote 6–8% yearly staking yields and old-school traders still fret about risk.
The push to serve institutions is speeding up the build-out of custody and validator rails, and the next real test is the Hong Kong ETF launch on 27 October 2025 — an event that may steer fresh money into staking-backed assets.
