Upexi Treasury, the Nasdaq-listed company positioning itself as a major corporate holder of Solana cryptocurrency, announced Tuesday the formation of an advisory committee with former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes as its first member, aiming to bolster strategy and partnerships for its growing $SOL treasury.
Hayes, who serves as chief investment officer of Maelstrom Fund and co-founded the derivatives exchange BitMEX, pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating U.S. bank secrecy laws and settled related civil charges with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Despite his legal history and past criticisms of Solana — including calling it a “Sam-coin piece of dogshit” and “dog shit” in public statements while admitting to buying it for its market appeal — Upexi highlighted his expertise in digital assets and institutional finance.
The appointment comes as Upexi, trading under ticker $UPXI, has aggressively expanded its Solana position. As of Aug. 4, the company held 2,000,518 SOL tokens, a 172% increase from June, valued at approximately $384 million based on Wednesday’s price of about $192 per token, according to data from Coinbase and Yahoo Finance. This positions Upexi as the largest corporate treasury focused on Solana, which processes up to 2,000 transactions per second compared to Ethereum‘s 15, per Solana’s documentation.
The news sparked a bullish response in crypto markets. Solana’s $SOL token surged about 7% on Tuesday, reaching highs near $192, with analysts eyeing a potential push toward $200 amid renewed institutional interest and heightened derivatives trading. Upexi’s stock also climbed, closing at $6.66 on Tuesday after trading as high as $6.73, reflecting investor optimism despite concerns over potential share dilution from recent equity raises.
Community reactions on X were mostly positive, with users comparing Hayes’ role to BitMine’s appointment of analyst Tom Lee for Ethereum strategies, predicting further upside for $SOL. However, skepticism lingered over Hayes’ trading record, including a recent move where he sold $8.3 million in Ethereum at around $3,500 only to repurchase $10.5 million worth days later at over $4,150, and his history of deriding Solana’s fundamentals even as he profited from it.
Upexi officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the reactions or Hayes’ specific contributions. Hayes has not publicly commented on the appointment.
The move underscores Upexi’s ambition to elevate Solana’s profile in a competitive blockchain landscape, where it vies with Ethereum and others for dominance in decentralized finance and NFTs. Industry observers note that Hayes’ involvement could drive bolder corporate crypto adoption, though it also draws attention to ongoing regulatory risks in the sector.
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