Mill City Ventures has become the first public company to invest in a Sui treasury after a $450 million raise, betting on blockchain’s AI and DeFi capabilities.
Nasdaq-listed Mill City Ventures III has completed a major $450 million private placement to pivot its business strategy toward cryptocurrency with a Sui treasury.
The non-bank lender and specialty finance company announced on Monday that it has raised approximately $450 million by selling 83 million shares to institutional investors.
The offering includes investment from Pantera Capital, Electric Capital, ParaFi Capital, Arrington Capital, FalconX and other venture firms. Galaxy Asset Management will serve as the treasury asset manager.
The firm plans to use 98% of the proceeds to acquire Sui (SUI) tokens, the native cryptocurrency of the layer-1 Sui blockchain, as its primary treasury asset, while maintaining 2% for its existing short-term lending business.
Mill City claims that this is an “industry-first” relationship with the Sui Foundation and the first public company SUI treasury.
Commenting on why Sui was selected for the firm’s pivot to crypto, incoming chief investment officer Stephen Mackintosh said it was at a time when “crypto and AI are reaching critical mass.”
“We believe that Sui is well-positioned for mass adoption with the speed and efficiency institutions require for crypto at scale, plus the technical architecture capable of supporting AI workloads while maintaining security and decentralization,” he added.
Related: Sui blockchain partners with Ant Digital on tokenized ESG assets
“The future belongs to crypto, AI, and stablecoins — and they all need infrastructure that can handle real scale. That’s Sui,” said Adeniyi Abiodun, co-founder and chief product officer of Mysten Labs, the backers of the Sui blockchain.
In February, Sui Foundation managing director Christian Thompson told Cointelegraph that he saw opportunities with the convergence of technologies, such as AI agents integrated into blockchains.
In addition to Sui’s AI focus, the ecosystem has also seen a surge in decentralized finance activity. Onchain value hit an all-time high of $2.22 billion over the weekend, following an increase of almost 400% since July 2024, according to DefiLlama.
On Sunday, asset manager 21Shares highlighted Sui’s top DeFi protocols: Suilend, NAVI, and Haedal, which had $1.7 billion TVL between them after significant gains over the past month.
There has been no positive reaction to the treasury news on spot markets, with the price of SUI tanking 11% over the past 24 hours, in line with a broader crypto market retreat, particularly for altcoins.
The blockchain token hit an all-time high of $5.35 in January but has retreated 27% since then.
