It can be described as a market roller coaster triggered by a governance game.
$YHC soared to nearly $11, then plummeted to the $2.5 range (after hours). The rise and fall closely mirrored the progress of Leshner's acquisition of $YHC's controlling stake.
Yesterday, @rleshner announced his withdrawal from the contest for control of $LQR (YHC). Despite holding 57% of the shares, the board continued to sell shares through an ATM offering, leading to dilution and ineffectiveness in governance. This is not an emotional statement of "useless equity," but a direct demonstration of the complex governance structures in TradFi.
This acquisition experiment initiated by DeFi OG was intended to buy the company, replace the board, and shift to a crypto treasury strategy, but it collided with the defensive toolbox entrenched in Wall Street: ATM issuance, staggered directors, poison pill plans, etc. Although the rules are publicly disclosed in SEC filings, the layers of gamesmanship are complex.
Crypto is accustomed to real-time, public, and auditable states on-chain. However, TradFi's cap table involves transfer agents, brokers, and settlement delays, requiring constant tracking of public disclosures during operations. Leshner's actions revealed that SEC filings may seem straightforward, but the actual execution is dynamic and multifaceted.
This also reveals that the true pain point of Tokenization lies not in simply "mapping assets," but in governance rights. T-bills can easily go on-chain, but if the control structure cannot be reconstructed on-chain, the RWA narrative cannot stand firm. Leshner himself emphasized that tokenized shares can bring real-time transparency, far surpassing TradFi brokers and exchanges.
Therefore, this is not a failed acquisition, but a direct confrontation between DeFi ideals and the TradFi governance system. Leshner chose not to engage in a proxy fight or litigation, but instead withdrew from the contest while promoting more public disclosure of $LQR's financials and capital structure, and also plans to involve community experts to help build a crypto treasury.
This conflict makes us realize: TradFi's governance structure is like a "smart contract with no gas limit." You think you are buying assets, but in reality, you are playing a game of rules. For DeFi to participate, it must first understand the rules.
More broadly, the next stage of RWA is not just about assets on-chain, but governance structures on-chain, from SEC-compliant issuance to on-chain native governance.
"From Compound to Opening Bell: Leshner Uses $2M to Leverage On-Chain IPO Experiment"
@rleshner (Founder of Compound & Robot Ventures) has recently made headlines:
He spent $2.03M to acquire a 56.9% stake in the Nasdaq shell company LQR House ($LQR, community shorthand $YHC), and through his company Superstate, he is building on-chain compliant securities on Solana, starting to advance the "on-chain stock market."
This is not just a simple shell arbitrage; it is an experimental narrative connecting DeFi × RWA × TradFi.
Shell acquisition + On-chain infrastructure integration
On July 14, Leshner submitted a 13D filing to the SEC, officially taking control of $LQR, a company that previously engaged in online liquor retail and now has virtually no actual business, with negative net assets, essentially a shell. He bought in at an average price of ~$3.77, with a market cap of only $2.5M, directly acquiring controlling interest, planning to clean up the board and reshape the direction (including a BTC treasury and on-chain securities).
This is not his first exploration of TradFi.
Superstate is an RWA asset management company he founded in 2023, raising $18.1M, with investors including Distributed Global, CoinFund, Galaxy, Arrington, and others.
It has two main products:
$USTB: An on-chain T-bill fund, AUM > $700M, growing rapidly, supporting ERC-20 liquidity transfers.
$USCC: A carry-based fund, structured as USD cash + T-bill + crypto basis trade (BTC/ETH), sharing clearing/auditing/on-chain infrastructure with $USTB.
Combined AUM of ~$856M, all aimed at qualified investors, following the route of "compliant on-chain asset management."
Opening Bell: The Nasdaq of On-Chain Securities
In May 2025, Superstate will launch Opening Bell: a native on-chain issuance + trading platform (based on Solana), supporting the full process of U.S. stock-style securities (no packaging, no synthetic).
Support for:
Full on-chain shareholder registration, auditing, compliance tracking.
Direct issuance of on-chain original shares (SEC filing), supporting secondary trading.
Building a composable financial layer (such as token dividends, stock collateral, etc.).
$LQR may serve as the first "real-world" shell injection vehicle for Opening Bell, becoming a pilot for on-chain IPO + merger experiments.
As @MapleLeafCap said: this is a proof-of-concept for the fusion of "shell companies + tokenization + SEC compliance."
Completing the Last Piece of the RWA Puzzle
The market has always had on-chain bonds (T-bills) as RWA, but on-chain equity has been a gap.
Now, Superstate has completed the bootstrapping of "native on-chain securities" using TradFi tactics (13D control of the shell) + DeFi infrastructure (Solana, tokens, on-chain clearing and settlement).
This is different from traditional tokenization: it is not about packaging traditional stocks into on-chain tokens, but about issuing original equity directly on-chain, trading on-chain, and ensuring compliance on-chain.
The potential financial stack will become: stock registration → stock token → account opening + compliance → investment/trading → integration into the DeFi system (lending, LP, options, automatic dividend distribution).
If this stack works, it could bring a "new entry point with a trillion-level TVL."
This is not just a narrative; this is an offensive move.
From Compound to Superstate, Leshner has been building the on-chain native version of finance.
This LQR acquisition is a direct move by crypto natives to engage in financial infrastructure, balancing compliance, market, technology, and asset structure.
If this succeeds, Opening Bell could become the on-chain alternative to Nasdaq.
If successful, it provides another key for many founders looking to gain liquidity in U.S. stocks. Is there another way to trade crypto stocks?
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