Eightco Holdings surges after $125M institutional backing, $75M bet on OpenAI and MrBeast
Eightco Holdings (ticker: ORBS) jumped as much as 25% in early trading after unveiling $125 million in new institutional funding commitments and announcing immediate, high-profile investments totaling $75 million into AI and crypto projects.
Funding and strategic partners
- The largest commitment—$75 million—comes from Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), an ether treasury asset firm that MarketScreener data shows holds roughly a 7% stake in Eightco. Bitmine chairman Tom Lee will join Eightco’s board.
- ARK Invest and Payward (the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken) each committed $25 million. ARK’s chief futurist, Brett Winton, will join Eightco as an adviser.
- Additional institutional backers named by the company include CoinFund, Pantera and FalconX.
Where the new capital is going
Eightco said it has already deployed a portion of capital into two marquee investments:
- $50 million into OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.
- $25 million into Beast Industries, the commercial arm of YouTube creator MrBeast.
Company profile, treasury and holdings
Formerly known as Cryptyde and historically active in packaging and logistics, Eightco has repositioned itself into crypto and AI-related strategies. The company holds a sizable treasury in WLD, the token tied to the Worldcoin identity network co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Worldcoin uses biometric “Orb” devices to create proof-of-humanity—an identity layer intended to distinguish real people from bots and automated AI accounts.
According to Eightco’s update, its treasury includes:
- Approximately 277 million WLD tokens (around 10% of WLD’s circulating supply),
- About 11,000 ether, and
- $82 million in cash.
Leadership and commentary
Dan Ives, who led the company through its strategic pivot in 2025, will step down, the company said.
Tom Lee of Bitmine framed the moves as a convergence of major tech trends: “To me, there is tremendous synergy between Proof of Human (Worldcoin), the OpenAI foundational models, and connectivity to the greatest content creator in the world, MrBeast,” he said. Bitmine previously invested $200 million in Beast Industries in January.
Market reaction
WLD ticked up more than 2% on the announcement, rising from about $0.3517 to roughly $0.362 per token. ORBS shares were trading near $1.00 following the news.
Why it matters
Eightco’s new commitments and rapid deployment into OpenAI and a creator-driven commercial business signal a broader play to link identity (Worldcoin’s proof-of-humanity), AI infrastructure (OpenAI) and large-scale content distribution (Beast Industries). For investors and the crypto market, the deal combines liquidity, high-profile brand exposure and exposure to emerging identity and AI-native use cases—while also concentrating sizeable token and ether holdings on the company’s balance sheet.
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