Mill City Ventures Invests $450M in Sui Blockchain
Mill City Ventures III, a Nasdaq-listed company, has made a significant move into the cryptocurrency space by completing a $450 million private placement to establish a Sui treasury.
Strategic Shift to Sui Blockchain
The financial services firm announced the raise of approximately $450 million through the sale of 83 million shares to institutional investors. This strategic pivot underscores a strong belief in the potential of the Sui blockchain.
Key Investors and Management
The offering attracted investment from prominent firms including:
- Pantera Capital
- Electric Capital
- ParaFi Capital
- Arrington Capital
- FalconX
Galaxy Asset Management will oversee the treasury asset management.
Investment Allocation
Mill City Ventures plans to allocate 98% of the proceeds to acquire Sui (SUI) tokens, the native cryptocurrency of the Sui layer-1 blockchain. The remaining 2% will support its existing short-term lending operations.
The company claims this initiative is an industry first, marking the first public company SUI treasury in partnership with the Sui Foundation.
Rationale Behind Investing in Sui
Incoming chief investment officer Stephen Mackintosh highlighted the convergence of crypto and AI as a key factor in choosing Sui. He stated:
“We believe that Sui is well-positioned for mass adoption with the speed and efficiency institutions require for crypto at scale, plus the technical architecture capable of supporting AI workloads while maintaining security and decentralization.”
Adeniyi Abiodun, co-founder and chief product officer of Mysten Labs, the developers behind Sui, added, “The future belongs to crypto, AI, and stablecoins — and they all need infrastructure that can handle real scale. That’s Sui.”
Sui's DeFi Ecosystem Growth
Sui's decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem has experienced substantial growth. Onchain value reached an all-time high of $2.22 billion recently, marking an almost 400% increase since July 2024, according to DefiLlama.
21Shares highlighted top Sui DeFi protocols such as Suilend, NAVI, and Haedal, which collectively hold $1.7 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) after significant gains in the past month.
SUI Price Reaction
Despite the treasury news, the price of SUI has seen an 11% decrease over the past 24 hours, reflecting a broader market downturn, especially among altcoins. The token reached an all-time high of $5.35 in January but has since dropped by 27%.
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