A group of former executives from Kraken has taken the reins at Janover, with Joseph Onorati, the previous chief strategy officer at Kraken, now serving as chairman and CEO after the acquisition of over 700,000 common shares and all Series A preferred stock.
Parker White, who previously held the position of director of engineering at Kraken, has been appointed as both the new chief investment officer and chief operating officer. The group acquired 728,632 shares of Janover common stock along with all 10,000 shares of Series A preferred stock. Additionally, Marco Santori, who was the chief legal officer at Kraken, will be joining the board.
Janover operates in the real estate financing sector, bridging lenders and buyers of commercial properties. Following the announcement, the company’s stock experienced an impressive 840% increase on April 7 as part of the transaction.
The new leadership has indicated plans to establish a Solana (SOL) reserve treasury, which includes initiatives such as acquiring Solana validators, staking SOL, and making further token purchases.
In conjunction with the leadership transition, Janover announced the successful raising of $42 million through an offering of convertible notes. These instruments, which can be converted to equity at a predefined price later on, attracted participation from several notable investors, including Pantera Capital, Kraken, Arrington Capital, Protagonist, Third Party Ventures, and others.
In a move to modernize its payment options, Janover declared in December 2024 that it would accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and SOL as payment for its real estate services.
Crypto Treasury Companies: Innovative or Risky?
In August 2020, Strategy became one of the first publicly traded firms to include Bitcoin on its balance sheet. This pioneering move has since inspired numerous other companies, including Japan’s Metaplanet, Semler Scientific, and Tesla.
This trend has often led to increases in share prices, as investors have shown interest in gaining exposure to digital assets through traditional financial mechanisms.
Nevertheless, some critics have raised concerns regarding this approach due to the inherent volatility of cryptocurrencies and the financing methods utilized by certain companies, such as convertible note offerings by Strategy.
Over the last year, SOL has experienced notable fluctuations, having reached a peak of $274.50 and dipped to a low of $107.68, as reported by MarketVector.
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