Multicoin founder says he’s still ‘mega long’ Solana despite resignation cash out

Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani has reassured investors that he’s still bullish on Solana despite stepping back from the venture firm he helped create almost nine years ago.

On Wednesday, Multicoin sent out a letter to partners informing them that Samani will transition from a management to an advisory role at the firm, which oversees $6 billion in assets for investors.

“We don’t anticipate any disruption to the business,” the letter said.

Multicoin is one of the crypto industry’s largest and longest-running venture firms. It’s famous for being an early and highly successful investor in Solana, the $51 billion blockchain.

In an appearance on The Wolf Of All Streets podcast in December 2021, Samani said Multicoin had bought SOL tokens over three private rounds at $0.04, $0.20, and $0.23, meaning the firm is up at least 39,000% on its Solana investments.

“I have decided to step back from Multicoin,” Samani said on X. “I am still mega long SOL, mega long crypto.”

Conflicting statements

On X, Samani said he wanted to step back from his position at Multicoin to take some time off and explore new areas of technology.

Yet in a since-deleted post made hours before his resignation, Samani rattled off a cutting condemnation of the crypto industry.

“Crypto is just fundamentally not as interesting as many crypto enthusiasts wanted. Myself included. I once believed in the web3 vision. Dapps. I don’t anymore,” Samani said.

“Crypto is going higher. But all the interesting questions have been answered other than onchain confidentiality.”

Samani did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Over the past week, Bitcoin has plunged to its lowest level since November 2024, taking much of the crypto market with it.

Industry sentiment is low as regulation slows and macroeconomic conditions worsen. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index, a sentiment tracker that produces readings between 0 for extreme fear and 100 for extreme greed, registered a reading of 12 on Thursday.

Increasing SOL exposure

In addition to resigning, Samani said he plans to cash out his share of Multicoin’s Master Fund, which holds shares in Forward Industries Inc, a crypto treasury firm that buys SOL tokens.

Multicoin, along with Galaxy Digital and Jump Crypto, led a $1.65 billion private investment in Forward Industries stock, FWDI, in September.

As of the most recent public update on January 15, Forward Industries holds almost seven million SOL in its treasury, worth some $623 million.

“I will request an in-kind redemption in FWDI shares and warrants rather than in USD,” Samani said. “As a result of this process, I expect to substantially increase my personal economic exposure to FWDI.”

Samani added that he plans to remain in his role as Chairman of Forward Industries.

Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com.