Eightco Holdings announced $125 million in new institutional funding commitments as the company expands its strategy of investing in artificial intelligence, blockchain infrastructure, and global digital consumer platforms.
The funding round includes $75 million led by Bitmine, with additional commitments of at least $25 million from ARK Invest and $25 million from Payward, the parent company of crypto platform Kraken. The investment is intended to support Eightco’s strategy of building stakes in companies operating at the intersection of emerging technologies and digital media ecosystems.
As part of the announcement, Eightco disclosed that it has already deployed capital into several strategic positions, including a $50 million investment in OpenAI and a $25 million investment in MrBeast’s Beast Industries. The company also continues to hold positions in Worldcoin, the identity-focused crypto project co-founded by Sam Altman, and in Ethereum.
Eightco said the strategy is designed to position the company at the convergence of artificial intelligence development, blockchain infrastructure, and global content distribution networks. The firm believes these sectors represent foundational layers of the next generation of digital platforms.
The company also announced leadership changes tied to the investment. Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine, will join Eightco’s board of directors to help guide the company’s long-term investment strategy. Brett Winton, chief futurist at ARK Invest, will serve as an advisor to the board. Dan Ives will step down as chairman.
Eightco said the funding round was supported by a group of strategic and institutional investors, including Bitmine Immersion Technologies, MOZAYYX, ARK Invest, Payward, the World Foundation, Coinfund, Discovery Capital Management, FalconX, Pantera, and GSR.
The company describes its mission as building long-term shareholder value by aligning capital with technologies that it believes will define the future of digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence systems, and large-scale creator platforms.
KEY QUOTES:
“Bitmine invested in ORBS as we believe this company sits at the center of some of the most important future needs and developments for AI. To me, there is tremendous synergy between Proof of Human (Worldcoin), the OpenAI foundational models, and connectivity to the greatest content creator in the world, MrBeast. And the ARK investment team, known for their pioneering work on identifying exponential opportunities, is further fueling synergy and innovation in this company.”
Tom Lee, Chairman Of Bitmine And Newly Appointed Independent Director Of Eightco
“We needed some sort of way for identifying, authenticating humans in the age of AGI. We needed a way that we could know what content was made by a human, by an AI. We wanted a way to make sure that humans stayed special and central in a world where the internet was going to have lots of AI-driven content. We wanted a way to think about how we were going to distribute access to these systems.”
Sam Altman, Co-Founder Of Worldcoin
“ORBS is taking on a unique initiative at the intersection of AI, blockchain, and creator driven platforms. At ARK Invest, we focus on technologies that have the potential to transform the global economy. We are excited to be partnering with ORBS to support their strategy as these technologies scale over the coming decade.”
Cathie Wood, Founder, CEO, And CIO Of ARK Invest
“Technological revolutions tend to follow power-law dynamics: a small number of platforms capture a disproportionate share of value. ORBS is positioning itself at the intersection of three such compounding networks, AI, cryptographic infrastructure, and global digital distribution. Capital deployed at that convergence has the potential to scale non-linearly, and we’re excited to support a strategy designed to capture that asymmetry.”
Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO Of Kraken And Payward
