Avalanche Foundation eyes $1 billion to set up AVAX treasury firms in US: FT

Avalanche Foundation, the non-profit group behind the Layer 1 blockchain, is in "advanced discussions" to establish two cryptocurrency treasury companies in the U.S., according to the Financial Times.

The FT report , citing two sources familiar with the matter, stated that the foundation's deal with investors involves launching one crypto treasury company and converting an existing company into a treasury vehicle. Avalanche Foundation reportedly aims to raise $1 billion and is expected to close the deals in coming weeks. 

One of the deals targets a raise of up to $500 million in a private investment in a Nasdaq-traded company. The investment is led by Hivemind Capital and advised by SkyBridge Capital Founder Anthony Scaramucci , and expected to close by the end of September, FT's report said. 

The other deal involves a special purpose acquisition vehicle sponsored by Dragonfly Capital, which also aims to raise $500 million, with an expected completion date in October.

With the proceeds, the two companies are expected to purchase millions of Avalanche's AVAX cryptocurrency, which the foundation will offer at a discounted price, according to the report.

The Block has reached out to the Avalanche foundation for further comment.

Amid the ongoing trend of corporate digital asset treasuries (DATs), a number of larger companies have recently started to buy out publicly-traded companies to turn them into crypto treasury companies in a "reverse merger."

Earlier this week, Nasdaq-listed Asset Entities (ASST) saw its shareholders approve its planned merger with Vivek Ramaswamy's Strive Enterprises, which would result in the former transforming into a bitcoin-focused DAT.

Meanwhile, Avalanche is currently being utilized by investment firms like BlackRock, Apollo, and Wellington Asset Management to test the tokenization of funds. AVAX rose 10.17% in the past 24 hours to trade at $29.11, according to The Block's price page .