Nasdaq-listed Mill City Ventures III has raised $450 million in a private placement as part of a strategic pivot into the cryptocurrency space, making a bold bet on the Sui blockchain. The specialty finance firm announced on Monday that it had sold 83 million shares to institutional investors, including notable names like Pantera Capital, Electric Capital, ParaFi Capital, Arrington Capital, FalconX, and others. In what the company is calling an “industry-first,” Mill City plans to allocate 98% of the proceeds to acquire Sui tokens—making it the first public company to hold SUI as its primary treasury asset. Galaxy Asset Management has been appointed as the asset manager for the treasury, while the remaining 2% of funds will continue to support Mill City’s traditional short-term lending business. According to Mill City, this move marks a transformative shift toward embracing emerging technologies in crypto, Web3, and artificial intelligence (AI), with Sui positioned at the center of that intersection. Why Mill City is Choosing Sui? Stephen Mackintosh, Mill City’s incoming Chief Investment Officer, emphasized that the firm’s pivot comes at a time when crypto and AI are “reaching critical mass.” He believes Sui’s technical architecture offers the scalability, speed, and security needed for mass adoption, especially by institutions. “Sui is well-positioned for mass adoption with the speed and efficiency institutions require for crypto at scale,” he said. Mackintosh also highlighted the blockchain’s ability to support AI workloads while maintaining decentralization—an increasingly important factor as AI agents begin to integrate more deeply into blockchain ecosystems. Adeniyi Abiodun, co-founder and chief product officer at Mysten Labs, the core development team behind Sui, echoed that sentiment. “The future belongs to crypto, AI, and stablecoins—and they all need infrastructure that can handle real scale. That’s Sui,” he said. Sui Foundation’s managing director Christian Thompson previously hinted at these ambitions, noting earlier this year that the intersection of AI and blockchain presents significant opportunities for innovation. DeFi Ecosystem Reaches All-Time High Mill City’s investment comes at a time of rapid growth in the Sui ecosystem . On-chain value on the network recently reached a record $2.22 billion, up nearly 400% since July, according to DeFiLlama data . On Sunday, asset manager 21Shares highlighted the network’s leading DeFi protocols—Suilend, NAVI, and Haedal—which collectively hold $1.7 billion in total value locked (TVL), reinforcing the growing momentum behind the expanding ecosystem. The post Mill City Ventures Raises $450M to Establish First Public Sui Treasury appeared first on TheCoinrise.com .
