- Mill City Ventures raised $450M—98% going into SUI, shifting away from traditional finance.
- Karatage’s founders join the firm, while Galaxy Asset Management takes over treasury ops.
- Sui network’s TVL hits $2.22B, but SUI’s price is down 27% from January highs.
In a wild pivot from old-school finance, Mill City Ventures III — yep, the Nasdaq-listed specialty finance outfit — just raised a jaw-dropping $450 million in a private round. And get this: nearly all of it (like 98%) is headed straight into SUI, the native token powering the Sui blockchain.
That’s not pocket change. It’s actually one of the biggest public moves ever made by a U.S.-listed company into a single blockchain asset. Mill City’s basically saying goodbye to short-term lending and hello to crypto — bold move in a shaky market.
Per the Monday press release, hedge fund Karatage Opportunities led the round. They’re deep in the digital asset game and clearly see something in SUI.
New Faces, New Strategy
With that funding comes a shake-up at the top. Karatage’s Marius Barnett is stepping in as board chairman, while Stephen Mackintosh’s sliding into the CIO seat. Big titles, big responsibilities.
Galaxy Asset Management’s been tapped to oversee the whole SUI treasury situation. That means buying up tokens on the open market, and possibly brokering deals directly with the Sui Foundation. So yeah, no half-measures here.
Mill City says the whole plan is about long-term alignment with the Sui ecosystem. They’re not just stacking coins—they want to embed themselves into the infrastructure of Web3, where demand’s heating up fast.
Sui Ecosystem Is Booming, But Price? Eh…
Sui’s not just another chain. It’s designed to handle a ton of activity—payments, games, AI—you name it. According to DefiLlama, its total value locked (TVL) just hit a record $2.22 billion. That’s up 400% since last summer. Pretty wild growth.
Suilend, NAVI, and Haedal are carrying most of that weight, accounting for $1.7 billion of the TVL. Clearly, this isn’t just hype.
But not all news is sunshine. The price of SUI tanked 11% in the past day. It’s now sitting 27% below its January high of $5.35. Altcoin blues, maybe? Either way, short-term jitters don’t seem to be scaring off Mill City.
Critics Are Raising Eyebrows
Not everyone’s popping champagne. Some analysts are calling BS on the way crypto treasuries are structured. Instead of buying tokens outright, firms might just be swapping shares for early holder contributions. That way, insiders get to exit while retail buys in later at inflated prices.
James Check from Glassnode and VanEck’s Matthew Sigel have both voiced doubts about how sustainable this model really is. It’s a fair question: is this strategy smart risk-taking, or just musical chairs with altcoins?
Still, if everything closes as planned, Mill City becomes the first U.S.-listed company to go all-in on the Sui blockchain. The deal’s expected to finalize by the end of July. Buckle up.
