OceanPal Inc. has made headlines with its recent announcement of raising $120 million to initiate a digital asset treasury strategy focused on the NEAR Protocol’s native token. This move places OceanPal, which is publicly traded on Nasdaq, alongside a growing list of traditional companies exploring the crypto landscape, highlighting a significant trend toward corporate involvement in digital assets.
The fundraising effort comes in the form of a private investment in public equity (PIPE), which will finance SovereignAI Services LLC, a newly established subsidiary dedicated to commercializing the NEAR Protocol. The ambitious aim for SovereignAI is to acquire at least 10% of NEAR’s token supply, positioning OceanPal as one of the foremost institutional holders of this digital asset.
The press release noted that this initiative would enable OceanPal, through SovereignAI, to serve as a leading public investment vehicle for NEAR, while also providing the foundational AI infrastructure necessary for “agentic commerce.” The company is set to use the capital generated from this strategy to create a confidential AI cloud infrastructure built on NVIDIA technology and powered by NEAR.
Notable financial backers of this transaction include Kraken, Proximity, Fabric Ventures, and the G20 Group. Furthermore, OceanPal has announced key appointments to strengthen its digital asset division. Sal Ternullo has been named co-CEO, with David Schwed stepping in as COO, and a new advisory board featuring NEAR CEO Illia Polosukhin along with advisors from OpenAI and Fabric Ventures.
Ternullo elaborated on the company’s vision, emphasizing its role as a public entity collaborating closely with the NEAR Foundation to promote “universal AI sovereignty.” He indicated that the planned decentralized and confidential compute infrastructure aims to meet the rising demand for privacy-focused, compliant AI solutions across various enterprise sectors, including finance, healthcare, and media.
However, the market reaction to OceanPal’s announcement has not been favorable. Following the news, the company’s shares experienced a significant decline, closing at $1.74, which represents a drop of 20.91%. Over the year, OceanPal’s stock has faced considerable challenges, plummeting by 94%. Concurrently, NEAR Protocol’s token also faced downward pressure, trading at $2.24 with a 4.37% decline in value over the past 24 hours and a 20.7% decrease over the month.
Despite these market challenges, OceanPal insists that its global shipping operations will remain a priority, even as it embarks on this ambitious pivot towards integrating blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. The future trajectory of this strategy, amid uncertain market conditions, remains to be seen, as both OceanPal and the NEAR token navigate these turbulent waters.
