Eightco Holdings, a publicly traded AI and blockchain company trading under the ticker ORBS, has increased its position in OpenAI with a fresh $40 million investment. The move brings the company’s total commitment to the ChatGPT developer to $90 million, representing 30% of Eightco’s full treasury. OpenAI is led by co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, whose firm has become one of the most prominent names in artificial intelligence.
Eightco CEO Kevin O’Donnell framed the investment as a significant opportunity for the company and its shareholders. He noted that access to high-growth private companies has historically been restricted to institutional investors, and said the firm is proud to give retail investors meaningful exposure to a major AI company. O’Donnell also described the move as positioning Eightco at the forefront of innovation as artificial intelligence continues to reshape industries globally.
The latest investment follows a major fundraising announcement made just one week prior, in which Eightco secured a $125 million injection from several prominent backers. Those investors include BitMine Immersion Technologies, an Ethereum treasury firm; Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken; and Ark Invest, the investment firm led by noted technology investor Cathie Wood. The fundraising round underscored growing institutional interest in Eightco’s strategy.
Alongside the capital raise, Eightco appointed BitMine Chairman Tom Lee to its board of directors. The addition signals a closer relationship between the two firms following BitMine’s participation in the recent funding round. Lee’s appointment is seen as part of Eightco’s broader effort to strengthen its leadership as it expands its investment portfolio.
Beyond its OpenAI stake, Eightco holds a range of digital assets. The company manages 11,068 ETH valued at approximately $23.6 million, along with $76 million in cash and stablecoins. Its largest single crypto position is in Worldcoin, ticker WLD, the native token of a proof-of-humanity blockchain project that was co-founded by Altman.
As of Friday, Eightco held approximately 277 million WLD tokens, representing nearly 10% of the entire circulating supply, with a value of around $89.2 million. The company originally raised $250 million last year to establish a digital asset treasury with a focus on Worldcoin. When that September announcement was made, shares in the firm surged as much as 5,000%, reaching a 52-week high of $83.12 according to data from Yahoo Finance.
Despite that earlier surge, Eightco’s stock has since declined sharply. On the day of the latest announcement, shares fell more than 4%, trading at around $0.90, a drop of nearly 93% over the preceding six months. The contrast between the stock’s peak and its current price reflects the volatile nature of companies operating at the intersection of AI investment and digital assets.
Originally reported by Decrypt.
