#433: Leah Wald, CEO of SOL Strategies, on Becoming More Than the MicroStrategy of Solana, TradFi Crypto Investments, and Solana ETFs

Leah Wald is CEO of SOL Strategies (CSE: HODL), a publicly traded Canadian company actively investing in, supporting, and providing infrastructure for the Solana blockchain ecosystem. Prior to Sol Strategies, Leah co-founded and was the CEO of Valkyrie Investments, leading the firm to over $1.3 billion in AUM through cryptocurrency trusts, hedge funds, and ETFs. Valkyrie’s advisory business was acquired by CoinShares, and its private trust division by Abra Capital in 2024. Previously, Leah worked at the World Bank Group in the sub-Saharan African region and served as a Partner at Lucid Investment Strategies, one of the first RIAs to allocate GBTC for their clients. Ms. Wald is a contributing writer for Forbes and co-authored the book Hyperwave Theory: The Rogue Waves of Financial Markets.

In this conversation, we discuss:
- Becoming more than the MicroStrategy of Solana
- Acquiring OrangeFin Ventures + Laine Validators (Stakewiz)
- The difference between SOL Strategies and SOL ETFs
- Investing in ETFs vs companies
- Why investment advisors don’t push public crypto companies + ETFs
- Partnership with Pudgy Penguins
- The future of the Solana ecosystem
- Pudgy penguins securing a SOL validator
- Investing in crypto via publicly traded companies
- Launching a Solana staking mobile app
- Bridging consumer brands with institutional blockchain infrastructure:
- Branded validators

SOL Strategies
Website: solstrategies.io
X: @solstrategies_
LinkedIn: SOL Strategies Inc.

Leah Wald
X: @LeahWald
LinkedIn: Leah Wald

 
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