Avalanche Treasury Co. (AVAT) has announced a $675 million-plus business combination with Mountain Lake Acquisition Corp. (MLAC), setting the stage for what it hopes will become a $1 billion ecosystem treasury, the company said in a press release Wednesday. Backed by an exclusive arrangement with the Avalanche Foundation, AVAT begins with a $200 million discounted token sale and plans to list on Nasdaq in early 2026, pending approval. MLAC is up 2% premarket. AVAX is flat over the past 24 hours, underperforming a surging crypto market. The company launches with about $460 million in treasury assets, funded through a private placement, and promises investors a discounted entry point of 0.77 times net asset value (mNAV), or roughly a 23% markdown compared with direct token purchases or ETF alternatives. CEO Bart Smith said the vehicle is designed to give institutions more than passive exposure, framing it as an integrated partner in the Avalanche network. AVAT’s strategy aims to scale into a $1 billion treasury by investing in the ecosystem directly, supporting protocol adoption, on-chain enterprise activity, and institutional blockchain launches. Emin Gün Sirer, Ava Labs’ founder, will serve as a strategic advisor, while Chief Business Officer John Nahas will take a board seat. The advisory board includes Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi, Blockworks CEO Jason Yanowitz, and Aave founder Stani Kulechov. The venture has already drawn a broad mix of institutional and crypto-native investors, including Dragonfly, ParaFi, VanEck, Galaxy Digital (GLXY), Pantera, CoinFund, Kraken, and others. FalconX will handle execution and credit, while Monarq will manage assets. Smith, a Wall Street veteran with experience at Susquehanna and AllianceBernstein, leads a team that includes Laine Litman, formerly of Hidden Road and Virtu Financial, and Budd White, previously at Multisig Labs. They see the effort as a step beyond traditional token accumulation models, positioning AVAT as both an institutional access point and an engine for Avalanche’s growth. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, arrives as regulators move closer to providing clarity for institutional crypto adoption, with Avalanche emerging as a favored blockchain for enterprise-scale applications. The Financial Times reported last month that the Avalanche Foundation was planning to raise $1 billion to create two crypto treasury companies. Read more: Anthony Scaramucci Involved as AgriFORCE One Rebrands to an AVAX Treasury Company; Shares Rise 132%
