Key Takeaways
DeFi Development Corp. (NASDAQ: DFDV) (“DFDV”), the first and leading publicly traded company dedicated to a Solana-based digital asset treasury, today announced a strategic partnership with Gauntlet, the leading DeFi vault curator and risk manager.
This collaboration will see DFDV allocate a portion of its treasury to advanced DeFi strategies, making it the first public Solana Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) company to leverage a curator for sophisticated onchain activity.
The partnership is a core component of DFDV’s strategy to maximize its SOL Per Share (SPS). By moving beyond simple staking and actively participating in the Solana ecosystem, DFDV aims to unlock superior capital efficiency and generate enhanced, risk-adjusted returns on its core SOL holdings.
The initiative will utilize dfdvSOL, a liquid staking token (LST) adopted by DFDV, as the foundational asset for these strategies.
“Our mandate is clear: to be the most innovative and effective Solana treasury,” says Joseph Onorati, CEO of DeFi Development Corp. “This partnership with Gauntlet is a direct execution of that mission. We are not passive holders; we are focused on productive, onchain activity that leverages the full power of the Solana ecosystem. By allocating capital to sophisticated, risk-managed strategies like those curated by Gauntlet on Drift, we are actively working to compound our SOL holdings and create a durable competitive advantage.”
Gauntlet is renowned for its quantitative, risk-adjusted approach to DeFi.
“Gauntlet’s purpose is to make DeFi more efficient for institutions within strict risk parameters,” said Rahul Goyal, Head of Institutional Partnerships at Gauntlet. “DFDV is a true innovator, and their forward-thinking approach to treasury management is a perfect match for our capabilities. We are thrilled to provide our institutional-grade strategies to help them execute a sophisticated strategy to generate risk-adjusted, enhanced yield. This collaboration will serve as a blueprint for how public companies can responsibly and effectively engage with DeFi.”
Beyond Staking: A New Paradigm of Capital Efficiency and Yield
Traditional SOL staking, while a secure method for earning yield, is fundamentally capital-inefficient, locking an asset into a single purpose for a single source of rewards. Historical staking rates for Solana have typically averaged around 7% APY.
This partnership enables DFDV to pursue enhanced risk-adjusted yields by leveraging the composability of DeFi. In contrast to the baseline staking rate, Gauntlet-curated strategies, such as hJLP or Basis Alpha, have historically demonstrated the potential for significantly enhanced risk-adjusted returns. These strategies target yields in the range of 10-20% APY through hedged liquidity provision.
The strategy flow is as follows:
Step 1: Users (including DFDV) supply $dfdvSOL on Solana into a Gauntlet-curated Drift vault called dfdvSOL Plus.
Step 2: The vault deposits dfdvSOL as collateral in Drift Lend and borrows USDC.
Step 3: The borrowed USD is used in a Gauntlet-curated basis trade strategy on Drift and Jupiter DEX. The yield generated from the strategy is used to purchase more dfdvSOL which is in turn deposited back as collateral.
Step 4: The entire strategy is powered by Gauntlet’s optimization engine, which monitors positions and automatically adjusts each parameter accordingly.
A Core Differentiator in a Growing Market
This focus on active, onchain treasury management firmly establishes DFDV as the most innovative operator among the growing cohort of Solana DATs and a superior alternative to Solana ETFs. While competitors focus on simple accumulation and staking, DFDV is executing a hands-on strategy to compound its holdings and drive SPS through institutional-grade DeFi with Gauntlet.
The key enabler of this strategy is dfdvSOL, a liquid staking token (LST) adopted by DFDV on May 26, 2025. dfdvSOL is designed for maximum capital efficiency and seamless integration across the Solana DeFi ecosystem, making it a powerful and versatile asset. While other LSTs like JitoSOL focus on capturing MEV rewards, dfdvSOL is positioned as the premier LST for institutional-grade, capital-efficient yield strategies.
dfdvSOL is accessible to Solana users, offering a superior way to stake SOL while maintaining liquidity and unlocking the full potential of DeFi. This partnership not only benefits DFDV's treasury but also aims to drive significant value and adoption to dfdvSOL itself.
About DeFi Development Corp. (DFDV)
DeFi Development Corp. (NASDAQ: DFDV) is the first U.S. public company with a treasury strategy built to accumulate and compound Solana (SOL). The company provides investors with direct economic exposure to SOL while actively participating in the growth of the Solana ecosystem through on-chain activity. In addition to holding and staking SOL through the liquid staking token dfdvSOL, DFDV operates its own validator infrastructure and engages across decentralized finance (DeFi) opportunities to maximize shareholder value.
About Gauntlet
Gauntlet equips investors, builders, and token issuers with data-driven strategies to confidently allocate over $1.4 billion onchain. Leveraging seven years of cryptoeconomic research and analysis, Gauntlet builds protocol and yield optimization strategies working with leaders across the crypto ecosystem, including Coinbase, Morpho, Uniswap, Arbitrum, and NEAR. Gauntlet's models have safeguarded over $42 billion in digital assets across the crypto ecosystem, driving capital efficiency and mitigating risk. To learn more, visit www.gauntlet.xyz.
Media Contact: Simon MATHONNET [email protected]
Gauntlet Disclaimer
Gauntlet's (also “we” and “us”) provision of vault services is not investment, tax, legal, or technological advice. None of Gauntlet's vaults are depository or custodial products, and none of your digital assets are guaranteed by Gauntlet or any other person. We are not a fiduciary for any vault user, nor will we act as a broker, custodian, investment adviser, or asset manager through our provision of the vault services. Vault users will always deploy their assets to listed vault markets at their own risk, with full understanding that (i) their digital assets may lose some or all of their market value; (ii) their digital asset positions may be liquidated partially or entirely as a result of parameters that they cannot control or change; and that (iii) their only recourse to prevent such risks after deploying to a vault is to fully withdraw during the applicable time lock period, which may be as few as twenty-four (24) hours' prior notice.
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