CEA’s BNC buys 200,000 BNB for $160 million, biggest corporate holder. Raised $500M in private placement led by 10X Capital and YZi Labs. Plans to invest up to $1.25B; new leadership includes Galaxy Digital co-founder. CEA Industries, trading publicly under the ticker BNC, has acquired 200,000 Binance Coin (BNB) tokens for $160 million, making it the largest publicly traded company by BNB holdings. The purchase was made via its treasury asset management arm, BNB Network Company, signaling a major pivot toward crypto investments as part of a new corporate strategy. This significant move follows CEA Industries’ recent successful $500 million private placement led by 10X Capital and Changpeng Zhao’s YZi Labs. The company rebranded from its former nicotine vape business, switching its ticker symbol from VAPE to BNC, to reflect its focus on BNB as its primary treasury reserve asset. BNB Network Company has also overhauled its leadership to support this strategy, appointing David Namdar, co-founder of Galaxy Digital, as CEO, alongside Russell Read, former CIO at CalPERS, and Saad Naja, ex-Kraken director. Additionally, 10X Capital’s Hans Thomas and Alexander Monje joined the board. BNC plans to continue acquiring BNB until its treasury funds are fully deployed and has the potential to raise an additional $750 million through warrants, which would bring the total investment in BNB to $1.25 billion. Analysts note that corporate crypto treasury strategies are diversifying beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, with more firms investing heavily in BNB. The BNB token, native to the BNB Chain blockchain, ranks as the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, currently valued at around $813 with a market cap near $113 billion. CEA Industries aims to provide U.S. and global investors institutional exposure to the robust BNB ecosystem without requiring direct token ownership, positioning itself as a leader in this emerging market segment.
