A team of former Kraken executives has taken control of Janover

A team of former Kraken executives has taken control of Janover, with Joseph Onorati, former chief strategy officer at Kraken, stepping in as chairman and CEO

A team of former executives from Kraken has taken control of Janover (NYSE:JNRV) following the group's purchase of over 700,000 common shares and all Series A preferred stock.

As part of the deal, which saw Janover stock price rise by 840% on Friday, the new leadership at the real estate financing company plans to create a Solana (SOL) reserve treasury. The plans include acquiring Solana validators, staking SOL and making additional purchases of the token.

According to a company statement, the new leadership team at Janover is set to commence their duties on April 1. The team comprises Joseph Onorati, former chief strategy officer at Kraken, who will assume the role of chairman and CEO of Janover.

Parker White, former director of engineering at Kraken, was appointed as the new chief investment officer and chief operating officer. The group bought 728,632 shares of Janover common stock and all 10,000 shares of Series A preferred stock. Marco Santori, former chief legal officer at Kraken, will join the board.

Janover, which connects lenders and buyers of commercial properties, announced that it began accepting payments for its services in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and SOL in December 2024.

Its stock price saw an 840% rise on Friday, open at $10.64 and quickly rising to $98.00 by 11:38 ET.

The company also disclosed that it had secured $42 million in an offering of convertible notes.

Convertible notes are a type of debt instrument that can later be converted to equity at a certain price. Participants in the funding round include Pantera Capital, Kraken, Arrington Capital, Protagonist, Third Party Ventures, and others.

Crypto treasury companies: Bold or risky?

In August 2020, Strategy (NYSE:STRG) became one of the first publicly traded companies to hold Bitcoin on its balance sheet. Since then, several companies have followed suit, including Japan’s Metaplanet and Semler Scientific (NASDAQ:SCNR).

In many cases, these companies have seen rises in their share prices as investors sought exposure to digital assets through traditional financial products.

However, some outsiders have criticized this approach due to the cryptocurrencies’ volatility and some companies’ financing methods, such as convertible note offerings used by Strategy.

SOL has seen significant volatility in the past 365 days, according to MarketVector. The coin has risen as to high as $274.50 and fallen to a low of $107.68.