ORBS makes strategic investments in leading companies in their sector, including OpenAI and Beast Industries.
Tom Lee, Chairman of Bitmine (NYSE: BMNR), joins the board of directors to support ORBS’ long-term investment strategy.
ARK Invest joins ORBS as a partner, provides strategic advice and insights into the private market and commits to an investment of $25 million in ORBS.
Brett Winton, Chief Futurist at ARK Invest, will join the ORBS board of directors as an advisor.
Payward, the parent company of the global crypto platform Kraken, commits to an investment of $25 million in ORBS.
The company is backed by a group of strategic and institutional investors including: Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), MOZAYYX, ARK Invest, Payward, World Foundation, Coinfund, Discovery Capital Management, FalconX, Pantera, GSR and others.
/PRNewswire/ — Eightco Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ORBS) (ORBS or the “Company”) today announced that it has received $125 million in new funding commitments, led by $75 million from Bitmine (NYSE: BMNR), with an additional commitment of at least $25 million from ARK Invest. Payward, the parent company of global crypto platform Kraken, has also committed $25 million to ORBS. The capital supports ORBS’s expansion into investments in technologies shaping the next generation of artificial intelligence, blockchain infrastructure and global digital consumer platforms.
ORBS also announced that it has completed its first strategic investments: $50 million in OpenAI and $25 million in MrBeast and Beast Industries. With these investments, ORBS positions itself as a hub for advanced AI technologies and content creation, expanding its portfolio with stakes in world-leading innovators. The company continues to hold Worldcoin, co-founded by Sam Altman, and Ethereum as long-term investments, as a staunch believer in the ERC-20 protocol.
The company has appointed Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine, to the ORBS board of directors. Brett Winton, Chief Futurist at ARK Invest, will act as an advisor to the ORBS board of directors. Dan Ives is stepping down as chairman of ORBS.
“Bitmine invested in ORBS because we believe this company is at the heart of some of the most important future developments in AI,” said Tom Lee, Chairman of Bitmine and newly appointed Independent Director of ORBS. “To me, there is a strong synergy between Proof of Human (Worldcoin), OpenAI’s fundamental models and the connection with the world’s largest content creator, MrBeast. And ARK’s investment team, known for its pioneering work in identifying exponential opportunities, further drives synergy and innovation within this company.”
World was developed to address a critical problem: distinguishing between real people and bots in the age of AI. Speaking about the creation of World, Sam Altman said: “We needed a way to identify and authenticate people in the age of AGI. We needed a way to identify which content was created by a human and which was created by AI. We also wanted to ensure that people remain unique and central in a world where the Internet will contain a lot of AI-generated content. We wanted to find a way to think about how we would distribute access to these systems.”
“ORBS is taking a unique initiative at the intersection of AI, blockchain and creator-powered platforms,” said Cathie Wood, Founder, CEO and CIO of ARK Invest. “At ARK Invest, we focus on technologies that have the potential to transform the global economy. We are excited to partner with ORBS and support their strategy as these technologies continue to scale over the next decade.”
“Technology revolutions often follow a power-law dynamic: a small number of platforms capture a disproportionate share of the value. ORBS positions itself at the intersection of three such composite networks, AI, cryptographic infrastructure and global digital distribution,” said Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken and Payward. “Capital deployed at this intersection has the potential to grow exponentially, and we are excited to support a strategy that aims to leverage that asymmetry.”
OVER EIGHTCO HOLDINGS INC.
Eightco Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ORBS) is expanding its mission by acquiring stakes in leading AI model OpenAI as well as leading content creator MrBeast and Beast Industries. Through strategic investments and partnerships, ORBS is positioning itself at the intersection of blockchain infrastructure, artificial intelligence and next-generation consumer platforms. The company is focused on creating long-term value for shareholders by connecting capital to the transformative technologies shaping the future of humanity.
For more details see
https://x.com/iamhuman_orbs
OVER BITMINE
Bitmine (NYSE AMERICAN: BMNR) is a Bitcoin miner with operations in the United States. The company is deploying its excess capital to become the leading Ethereum treasury company in the world, implementing an innovative digital asset strategy for institutional investors and public capital markets participants. Guided by its philosophy of “the alchemy of 5%,” the company is committed to ETH as its core reserve asset, leveraging native protocol-level operations including staking and decentralized financing mechanisms. The company will launch MAVAN (Made in America Validator Network), a dedicated staking infrastructure for Bitmine assets, in the first quarter of 2026.
For more details see
https://x.com/bitmnr
https://x.com/fundstrat
OVER BEAST INDUSTRIES
Beast Industries is a multi-faceted entertainment, consumer products and CPG company founded and led by YouTube creator, entrepreneur and philanthropist Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast. MrBeast is the most subscribed YouTube channel in the world with over 450 million subscribers and over 5 billion monthly views across all channels. Recognized as the top creator on Forbes’ Top Creators List (2023) and featured on the TIME 100 and the first TIME100 Climate lists, Donaldson has built Beast Industries into a platform that includes groundbreaking content, record-breaking competition formats and some of the fastest-growing CPG launches in history, including snack brand Feastables. The company also creates large-scale social impact through initiatives such as #TeamTrees, #TeamSeas, #TeamWater and Beast Philanthropy, a nonprofit organization (501(c)(3)) that has provided more than 20 million free meals and funded critical infrastructure projects worldwide. At its core, Beast Industries combines entertainment, innovation and purpose to create culturally resonant IP, market-leading products and lasting change.
OVER PAYWARD
Payward, Inc. is an integrated financial infrastructure platform that supports a range of products that contribute to an open, global financial system. Built on a single shared architecture, Payward enables customers to hold, trade, generate returns, pay and invest across asset classes without friction or fragmentation.
At its core, Payward provides the infrastructure layer behind Kraken and a growing number of purpose-built products, including NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks and CF Benchmarks.
Payward separates infrastructure from product development. Each product platform is designed for a specific customer sector, regulatory environment and use case, while operating on the same global basis:
- One global liquidity pool
- An integrated risk and margin engine
- One system for collateral management and settlement
- One framework for compliance and licensing
This shared architecture allows Payward to scale efficiently, launch new products at low marginal costs, and serve diverse global markets, while maintaining consistent risk management, regulatory compliance, and operational resilience.
More information about Payward can be found at www.payward.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, may be deemed forward-looking statements. Words such as “plans”, “expects”, “will”, “anticipates”, “continue”, “expand”, “promote”, “develop”, “believes”, “outlook”, “objective”, “may”, “continue”, “project”, “intend”, “estimate”, “could”, “should” and other words and terms of similar meaning or import are intended to identify forward-looking statements although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: the Company’s inability to direct the management or operations of private companies in which it is not a controlling shareholder; the risk of loss or impairment of the Company’s strategic investments; the company’s ability to continue to meet Nasdaq’s requirements for continued listing; unexpected costs, charges or expenses that reduce the Company’s capital resources or otherwise delay the deployment of capital; the inability to raise sufficient capital to finance or scale business operations or strategic investments; changes in regulations, future legislation and rulemaking that negatively impact digital assets or the adoption of artificial intelligence; and changing public and government attitudes towards digital assets or sectors related to artificial intelligence. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, as well as other important factors that could cause Eightco’s actual results to differ from the forward-looking statements included in this press release, reference is made to Eightco’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the risk factors and other disclosures contained in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on April 15, 2025, as well as subsequent publicly available SEC filings. All information in this press release is valid as of the date of publication. Eightco undertakes no obligation to update this information or to publicly release the results of any revisions to such statements to reflect future events or developments, except as required by law.
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