The largest BONK whale invests in “Ycombinator for Solana” | CoinDesk JAPAN

The meme coin BONK was created in order to spread wealth across Solana when the cryptocurrency ecosystem of Solana fell into a difficult situation due to the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX in late 2022. It started as a jokey way to A year later, both Solana and BONK have grown significantly, and BONK has become more than just an investor in venture funds.

Invested $500,000 in startup funds

According to a recently concluded governance vote, the BONK DAO (a council of 12 Solana power brokers who manage $124 million worth of BONK) is an early-stage company that supports projects built on the Solana blockchain. The company plans to invest $500,000 (approximately 72.5 million yen, equivalent to 145 yen to the dollar) from its holdings in a startup fund.

The fund was organized by Colosseum, a recently launched startup accelerator that will host hackathons to generate new projects for the Solana ecosystem. Last week, the Solana Foundation handed over responsibility for organizing the hackathon to Coliseum, run by former head of growth Matty Taylor.

“To be honest, I was quite surprised because I had never heard of DAO making this type of investment in a venture fund before,” Taylor said.

Taylor declined to discuss Coliseum’s ongoing fundraising efforts, citing securities laws.

BONK DAO supports various projects

According to BONK’s website, BONK DAO was created when BONK was founded in 2022. BONK creators have allocated more than 15% of all BONKs to BONK DAO for management and expenditure on community projects.

Cayman-based BONK DAO holds more than 12% of BONK’s total supply and remains the largest single holder.

Since then, the BONK DAO has voted to sponsor hackathons, liquidity pools, and send BONK to DeFi partners across Solana. According to the governance page, this investment is the company’s first attempt to invest in a venture.

Recently, a vote to send money to the Coliseum was passed with 8 people in favor and 1 person against an investment proposal for Ycombinator for Solana.

The proposal reads: “Support builders in the ecosystem and help disperse DAO capital across early-stage builders and founders through equity.”

Another ongoing vote proposes turning BONK into USD Coin (USDC) through a months-long trading partnership with market maker STS Digital.

｜Translation and editing: Rinan Hayashi
｜Image: Danny Nelson/CoinDesk
｜Original text: The Biggest BONK Whale Just Invested in ‘Ycombinator for Solana’