In the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency investment, a new opportunity is on the horizon, courtesy of a group of former executives from Coral Capital. Patrick Horsman, Joshua Kruger, and Johnathan Pasch are poised to raise an impressive $100 million through a Nasdaq-listed shell company they control. This initiative, which aims to rename the company Build & Build Corporation, will focus on acquiring Binance’s native token, BNB, to serve as its primary treasury asset. Recent reports from Bloomberg indicate that this fundraising effort could close within a matter of weeks, marking a significant development in the world of public market crypto exposure. If successful, it will be the first instance of a publicly traded organization anchoring its balance sheet to BNB, echoing a strategy made famous by Michael Saylor with Bitcoin through his company, MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR).
The strategy reflects a burgeoning trend of corporate investment in cryptocurrency, closely following the path laid out by Saylor’s firm, which currently holds around $60 billion in Bitcoin (BTC-USD). However, the accumulation isn’t just limited to Bitcoin; firms like SharpLink have raised $425 million aimed at Ethereum investments, while companies like Janover and Upexi are exploring opportunities in Solana. Yet, the forthcoming investment in BNB stands out distinctly. Binance, the exchange where this token was first introduced in 2017 via an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), allocated 80 million tokens to its founding team, which included the now-infamous former CEO, Changpeng Zhao. Today, BNB boasts an impressive market value of $87 billion and serves various purposes, including fee discounts on the Binance exchange and powering transactions on the BNB Smart Chain—a popular blockchain for crypto games and exchanges.
However, the journey to this point has not been without hurdles. In late 2023, Binance and Zhao faced significant legal challenges, pleading guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions laws, culminating in a monumental $4.3 billion settlement and Zhao’s resignation from his position. Despite this tarnishing of reputation, the regulatory landscape is seemingly adjusting. Under the Trump administration’s optimistic view of cryptocurrency, the SEC recently opted to drop its lawsuit against Binance, potentially creating a more favorable environment for public-market crypto investments. Should Build & Build succeed in its fundraising endeavor, it will not merely represent another crypto stock; it could become the first publicly traded firm with a treasury focused on BNB, positioned strategically at the heart of Binance’s ongoing revival narrative.
This development serves as a testament to the rapidly changing dynamics within the cryptocurrency space, particularly as public interest and institutional adoption continue to grow. As corporations consider allocating significant resources toward alternative cryptocurrencies, the risks and rewards associated with these investments are under closer scrutiny than ever before. While the outcome of Build & Build’s ambitions remains uncertain, the prospect of tapping directly into the liquidity and potential of BNB—and by extension, the Binance ecosystem—promises to be a captivating story worth following in the coming months. This article was originally published on GuruFocus.