Safety Shot Invests $25M in BONK Memecoin, Stock Drops 50%

TLDR

• Safety Shot stock plunged 50% after announcing $25M BONK memecoin treasury strategy
• Company acquired 10% revenue stake in BONK.fun, a leading Solana memecoin launchpad
• BONK.fun generated over $35M in user fees in July, controlling 80% of Solana’s token launch market
• Safety Shot will convert most revenue back into BONK token purchases
• CEO describes move as acquiring stake in “highly profitable engine” rather than simply buying cryptocurrency

Nasdaq-listed wellness drinks maker Safety Shot has made a major move into the cryptocurrency space, but shareholders appear skeptical. The company’s stock plummeted 50% following its announcement of a $25 million investment in the Solana-based memecoin BONK as part of a new treasury strategy.

Safety Shot, which manufactures blood alcohol detox drinks, revealed a strategic alliance with BONK founding contributors on Monday. The deal involves taking a 10% revenue stake in BONK.fun, one of the largest memecoin launchpads on the Solana blockchain.

The company’s stock (SHOT) fell to $0.59 in after-hours trading following the announcement. This sharp decline came despite a 36% rise in share price over the past month, though shares remained down 22.5% since the beginning of the year.

According to the announcement, Safety Shot will receive $25 million worth of BONK tokens for its treasury. The company plans to reinvest approximately 90% of its BONK.fun revenue back into BONK token purchases, creating an ongoing investment cycle.

Safety Shot CEO Jarrett Boon described the integration as “not simply buying a cryptocurrency” but acquiring a stake in “a highly profitable engine” within digital assets. Boon was previously co-founder and CEO of GBB Drink Lab, which developed the Safety Shot product.

The BONK Ecosystem

BONK has emerged as the fourth-largest memecoin with a $2 billion market capitalization and approximately 980,000 on-chain holders according to SolScan data. The token is integrated into over 400 Solana applications spanning decentralized finance, gaming, and consumer products.

The platform BONK.fun has become a dominant force in Solana’s token launch market, controlling more than 80% of daily new token launches. On peak days, the platform sees over 20,000 tokens deployed with daily volumes exceeding $100 million.

In July alone, BONK.fun generated over $35 million in user fees, surpassing rival Pump.fun to become the month’s highest-earning memecoin launchpad according to data from DeFiLlama. The platform consistently ranks among the top 10 decentralized applications globally in terms of revenue.

Financial Preparations

Safety Shot said it prepared for this strategic shift by settling all outstanding debt and maintaining over $15 million in cash reserves. The company plans to issue preferred shares at a value of $35 million, which will be convertible into shares of the company’s common stock.

In its announcement, Safety Shot cited BONK’s “clear and distinct advantages over its competitors” as the rationale for selecting it as a core treasury asset. The company specifically mentioned the Solana blockchain’s “superior technology that enables high-speed, low-cost transactions.”

This technology advantage, according to Safety Shot, gives BONK an edge over competitors like Shiba Inu and Pepe, which operate on Ethereum and face “high fees and slower speeds,” as well as Dogecoin, which has an inflationary supply.

BONK currently ranks as the fifth-largest memecoin by market capitalization, with $1.9 billion and 77 trillion tokens in circulation. The token’s price peaked in November 2024 but has since fallen 57% as the broader memecoin market cooled over the past six months.

Bonk Price on CoinGecko

Safety Shot is not the first public company to adopt a memecoin treasury strategy. In May, GD Culture Group, which focuses on livestreaming and e-commerce, announced plans to raise up to $300 million for a crypto treasury reserve that would include the TRUMP memecoin.

The overall memecoin market capitalization has declined by 25% since the beginning of the year, while the broader cryptocurrency market cap has increased by 22% during the same period, according to CoinMarketCap data.

For Safety Shot, this move represents a shift from the traditional corporate strategy of simply holding cryptocurrencies on balance sheets. Instead, the company is taking equity-like exposure in a revenue-generating asset, which adds a recurring income stream tied to the BONK ecosystem’s activity and price performance.