Mill City Ventures III Raises $450 Million to Build Sui Token Treasury

Mill City Ventures III completed a $450 million private placement on Monday and plans to invest $441 million of the proceeds into Sui tokens. The Minnesota‑based non‑bank lender became the first publicly traded company to establish a Sui treasury.

The remaining $9 million will support the firm’s existing short-term lending business. The company sold 83 million shares to institutional investors to fund the strategy pivot toward cryptocurrency. Pantera Capital, Electric Capital, ParaFi Capital, Arrington Capital, and FalconX participated in the offering. Galaxy Asset Management will oversee the treasury assets.

Stephen Mackintosh, incoming chief investment officer, cited crypto and AI reaching critical mass as reasons for backing Sui. He said Sui’s architecture provides the speed and efficiency institutions need for large-scale crypto applications while supporting AI workloads without compromising security and decentralization.

Adeniyi Abiodun, co-founder and chief product officer at Mysten Labs, called the partnership a sign that “the future belongs to crypto, AI, and stablecoins.” Mysten Labs is the lead backer of the Sui blockchain. In February, Sui Foundation managing director Christian Thompson discussed opportunities for integrating AI agents with blockchain platforms.

Sui’s decentralized finance ecosystem has grown rapidly. On-chain value locked in Sui DeFi reached an all-time high of $2.22 billion over the weekend, representing nearly 400% growth since July 2024, according to DefiLlama data. Leading protocols Suilend, NAVI and Haedal held $1.7 billion in total value locked after significant gains last month.

Despite the treasury announcement, Sui’s price fell 10% over the past 24 hours, matching a broader decline in altcoins amid falling market sentiment. The token hit a record high of $5.35 in January but dropped 27% from that peak.

Founded in 2006, Mill City Ventures III operates as a specialty finance company focused on niche lending products. The firm will continue supporting its lending operations with the small portion of funds retained outside the Sui treasury. The company’s strategy targets both AI and DeFi developments on Sui, which was designed as a layer-1 blockchain for high throughput and low latency.