A jaw-dropping 3,000% surge in Eightco Holdings (OCTO) is the latest case of what one analyst dubs “market madness.”
Shares skyrocketed from $1.45 to $45.08 after the company announced a $250 million investment to purchase Sam Altman’s cryptocurrency, Worldcoin. Alongside the deal, Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives was appointed chairman.
Adding fuel to the frenzy, BitMine (BMNR) — chaired by Fundstrat’s Tom Lee — snapped up a $20 million stake at $1.46 per share.
“The market’s animal spirits are alive and well—frenzied as ever,” said Mike O’Rourke, chief strategist at JonesTrading. He noted Eightco’s only real assets are the $250 million in financing, yet the company ended the day with a staggering $8.5 billion market cap. O’Rourke expects an at-the-market offering could follow to inflate its multiple of net asset value (mNAV).
Eightco wasn’t alone. Forward Industries (FORD) soared 59% to $25.96 after announcing a $1.65 billion investment in Solana (SOL). In both cases, sponsors now control about 98% of the companies.
“The willingness of investors to pay wild premiums just to wrap digital assets in an equity structure is astonishing,” O’Rourke said, calling it an example of “extreme greed.”
The strategy mimics Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy (MSTR) playbook—once unique for its Bitcoin treasury holdings. But O’Rourke warns the scarcity premium that once made MicroStrategy stand out has eroded. With digital asset treasury conversions now happening weekly, if not daily, he says, “every equity in the space is losing that scarcity value.”
