The $1 Trillion Crypto Company Hidden From U.S. Investors

Robert Ross|September 15, 2025

We’re doing something different today…

I just sat down with David Namdar. He’s the CEO of CEA Industries, a General Partner at Coral Capital, and co-founder of NFT.com. He was also a founding partner at Galaxy Digital and SolidX Partners, so he’s been at the center of crypto and digital assets since the early days.

In this interview, we cover his new venture targeting Binance Coin (BNB), the future of crypto treasuries, and where he sees the biggest opportunities in this market.

You won’t want to miss it!

Click on the image below to watch.

Transcript

Robert Ross, Speculative Assets Specialist, Manward Press:

Hey, everyone. Robert Ross here, Speculative Assets Specialist at Manward Press and editor of the Breakout Fortunes newsletter. Today, I have a really special guest for all of you. We’re sitting down with David Namdar, an early pioneer in the crypto world.

He’s the founding partner at Galaxy Digital and Solidx Partners. He co-founded NFT.com. And today, he’s the CEO of CEA Industries, which is one of those new crypto treasury companies that we’ve been talking about a lot here, but I’m sure you’ve been hearing about in the news as well. Now, I know a lot of you are not crypto native, and that’s totally fine.

This conversation is not about hype or jargon. It’s about what role digital assets might play in protecting and growing your wealth in an era of massive government spending, dollar debasement, and global competition.

David has been at the center of this industry for over a decade now, and I think you’ll find his perspective both eye-opening and practical. David, thank you so much for joining me today.

David Namdar, CEO of CEA Industries:

Robert, thank you for having me.

Robert:

So, David, you’ve been in the crypto space since the very early days. I mean, founding Galaxy Digital and Solidx, and more recently, co-founding NFT.com. Can you give our audience just a quick background on your journey and how you ended up leading CEA Industries?

David:

Sure. Absolutely. So, yeah, it has been a long one. It’s felt like multiple lifetimes. But I got my start here in New York about 12 years ago.

I was working in the hedge fund world, first at UBS in Hong Kong and then at Millennium covering all of the global markets. And I started going to some of the earliest Bitcoin meetups here in New York, met some of the geekiest, craziest people you can imagine back then. But, you know, a lot of them have turned out to be some of the pioneers of the crypto space. And then my first venture, as you mentioned, Solidx Partners, we tried to do a Bitcoin ETF back in 2014.

And so Bitcoin ETFs were finally approved and introduced last year. You know, and it was just something I saw as being really an important way to connect the crypto markets with the traditional markets. And so that’s really what I look at the role I’ve been playing in the space. And first with Solidx and then with Galaxy Digital, I took that public.

That was really a diversified asset management business focused entirely on crypto, the first in the world really at the time. There were a couple of other public crypto mining companies back then. And then, you know, the NFT wave was really important, and it was kind of at the center of it in the last cycle. And then now I’ve been approaching this in a similar way where I see what’s happening in the digital asset treasury space as being really the most important thing right now in this crypto cycle, and I’ve been investing in it a lot myself.

And kind of through that process, a couple of the bankers and entrepreneurs in the space have pulled me into it even deeper. And, you know, the most recent one was after the Nakamoto deal back in May, led by a close friend of mine, David Bailey from BTC Inc. Afterwards, him and Hans Thomas, the CEO of 10x Capital, they came and said to me, they’re like, “Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. You’re better at this than the management teams and the bankers. We need to have you running one of these treasury companies.” And so through that process, ultimately, I got involved and at first was advising on a BNB treasury strategy and then stepped in to become the CEO.

And that’s now – we’re kind of rebranding it to the BNB Network Company, and that’s the treasury management business within CEA Industries.

Robert:

No. It’s very exciting. And, I mean, I’ve been in the crypto space as an investor since 2017, and I feel like the space has evolved so much over that period. You’ve been in it even longer and much deeper than I’ve been. You know, how do you think the crypto space has evolved since you first got in? And do you feel like 2025 feels like a pivotal moment for the industry?

David:

Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, listen. This is where I was actually having this conversation with one of my business partners who’s quite well known in the space, CZ.

And we’re talking about just throughout the different cycles, you know, where we’ve had a number of times where regulation has really stifled things and slowed things down too much with the New York BitLicense back in 2014, 2015. And more recently, what’s been incredible is finally, in the past year, regulations in the U.S. have moved toward a much more favorable environment. And now that’s letting a number of other countries kind of reopen toward crypto. And they realize that whoever has sensible regulation, open regulation ends up attracting the crypto entrepreneurs, the capital, the innovation, and all that.

And, you know, it leads to pretty significant changes in a short period of time and the economic outcomes of that region or location.

So for me, it’s interesting. I was making this example and talking about how it’s always about crypto and TradFi playing in each other’s markets and getting more and more involved in each.

And what CZ was saying to me was actually, it’s really not even about thinking about them as different. It’s about removing the barriers and realizing that more and more, it’s about innovation.

And what crypto and crypto entrepreneurs are doing are really forcing a lot of the existing financial systems to modernize and improve.

Robert:

I know. And just the institutional involvement has just been, I feel like, the biggest wave we’ve seen over the last few years. And interesting how CZ is saying it’s really that firewall between the TradFi and the, you know, digital assets, crypto native that’s actually being lifted here that actually is the biggest change right now. And, you know, in that same point, I feel like one of the reasons that’s happening is because of the fiscal situation here in the U.S. I mean, I know a lot of people in the audience here at Manward, they’re concerned about the U.S. debt situation or deficits and the dollar losing value and maybe even losing its reserve currency status. Do you see crypto fitting into that big picture of financial instability?

David:

Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, that’s where, actually, I saw something the other day. Hunter from Bitwise was posting about, you know, seven trillion plus sitting in money market funds that once we start to see interest rate cuts, you know, it’s very likely that a lot of that flows into kind of safer risk assets in a way.

And what I mean by that is, you know, like, for me, I can’t imagine money sitting in cash for a long time when there are things like Bitcoin and BNB and other assets that really have just much more favorable dynamics than sitting in cash. And so to me, I think, you know, when I step back from the very beginning, what attracted me to crypto was a lot of this idea of digital scarcity and the idea that, you know, of a currency born from the Internet and multiple currencies now, where it’s not up to the whims of any central bankers to just press a button and print more of it.

And so I think, you know, gold has been breaking out to all-time highs. So clearly, you know, the market’s investors globally are focused on that, the amount of money printing that’s gone on. And I think Bitcoin – I actually was just sharing one of the – I think I was one of the first people ever in 2014. I put out a research report on Bitcoin as an institutional asset class, talking about its potential to get to 100K and then a million per Bitcoin.

So I’ll have to share that more and pull that back up. But, yeah, I think Bitcoin has won its narrative and place as digital gold. And I have as much conviction as ever that Bitcoin at two trillion market cap today will surpass gold at 15 to 20 trillion. And now Ethereum, a lot of people have become quite familiar with recently, and a lot of it post the Circle IPO around the stablecoin narrative.

And I think it’s kind of been winning in this digital oil narrative. But everybody keeps overlooking BNB, and that’s why I’m so excited and stepped in to run CEA Industries and, you know, this BNB Treasury because, you know, to me and from all the time I’ve spent outside the country and seeing, you know, what a truly global phenomenon crypto is, BNB in some ways is the most global asset in the entire space, you know, right along with Bitcoin. And I see BNB as kind of this digital infrastructure equity touching everything within the crypto space.

Robert:

No. A hundred percent. And, honestly, you answered my next question. I was going to say, how do we explain the value of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and especially Binance Coin in this case, relative to gold? There’s a lot of gold investors watching this right now. I think you articulated the bull case there very well.

You know, in plain English, what is the mission of CEA Industries and why did you guys choose Binance Coin as the centerpiece of your treasury strategy? I mean, I know a lot of people out there, they know Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy and how they’re using Bitcoin, and they might know how Tom Lee over at BitMatrix, you know, is using Ethereum. So could you dive into why you guys chose Binance Coin?

David:

Absolutely. And I think you’ve really introduced it well there. You know, Michael Saylor has been a pioneer here. When he first introduced the idea of taking the cash that was sitting on MicroStrategy’s balance sheet and putting it into Bitcoin, you know, he fought against a lot of skeptics. And now over the last five years, what he’s accomplished has been unlike anything in history. He’s now accumulated over 70 billion dollars worth of Bitcoin. And with a company worth over 100 billion dollars today, he might eventually, and I expect him to have and be leading a trillion-dollar company that could end up being one of the most valuable companies in the entire world, because there might never be another entity or government that’s able to accumulate more Bitcoin than what MicroStrategy has been able to achieve.

And so, you know, that’s now kicked off a wave of these other digital asset treasuries. And to me, the way I look at them is, you know, it’s kind of like an ETF but with a twist. And remember, that was what I first tried to do in the space. Now an ETF gives you this static exposure.

You buy one Bitcoin today in an ETF, you own that same amount of Bitcoin over time, the price can go up or down. With a digital asset treasury, there’s an opportunity for it to compound where following the MicroStrategy playbook, there’s ability to sell additional equity at a premium, buy more BTC or BNB, and then repeat. And you’re selling some of the volatility to accumulate more of that underlying asset for investors. And so you know, Tom Lee’s done a great job sharing this narrative with also Joe Lubin, one of the founders of Consensus and Ethereum, has done this with sBet.

And so there really isn’t anybody who’s been kind of doing this for BNB. And to me, it’s like the most unique and overlooked asset. Like, Bitcoin’s at a two trillion market cap today. Ethereum’s 500 billion.

BNB’s around 120 billion. And, actually, BNB is one of the few assets that’s outperformed Bitcoin from when it was first introduced. And even you know, I had some friends point out recently since I took over in leading this company, BNB has also managed to outperform Bitcoin by about 10 to 15 percent so far. And so I think, you know, it’s a difficult thing.

It’s also not commonly accessible here in the U.S. and in most of the Western markets. It’s not trading on Coinbase. But at the same time, a lot of people, you know, in the U.S., they’ve heard about Binance, but they don’t appreciate just the scale of it. You know, just as an example I bring up, imagine if Facebook, Apple, Google were all the biggest companies in each of their sectors, but were only listed outside the U.S., and U.S. investors couldn’t buy into them. Well, U.S. investors can buy into Coinbase. It’s about a 100 billion market cap today. Binance is five to 10 times the size of Coinbase.

It would be a 500 billion to trillion-dollar company if it was listed, but it might never go public. And actually, a lot of the value, and CZ has commented about this publicly, that kind of Binance, it’s part of its mission is to enhance the value of BNB. And so I see a future where, you know, BNB to me will be a 500 billion to trillion-dollar asset, if not much larger than that as well.

Robert:

Yeah. And I think that’s a great way of explaining it and really breaking it down so that, you know, the non-crypto natives out there can really understand it. I mean, seems like CEA Industries, you’re just – it’s the MicroStrategy, that same strategy, but using Binance Coin, which you guys are very bullish on, and I think it’s a really compelling thesis. I think one thing that our audience would like to hear about is, you know, what kind of moat or competitive advantage does your company have in this space, and why do you believe that this approach can scale and attract investors?

David:

Sure. So I think, you know, I’ve actually – I’ve always taken a very collaborative approach in the entire space. Even, you know, when I first was founding Galaxy with Mike Novogratz, you know, I first came up with the vision and the idea of kind of putting ourselves at the center of this crypto galaxy. Right?

And so I’ve been somebody – I used to host one of the biggest New York meetups. It was and crypto meetups in the world back then in 2017, 2018. It was 200 to 400 people every week, and it was just a ton of, you know, crypto addicts and maniacs and people that wanted to get jobs in the space and invest and start companies. So a lot of it was a very special chapter, and I’ve just always been somebody that, like, you know, I’ve been focused on growing the crypto pie.

I came up with this phrase that, you know, what I love about crypto, it’s the most non-zero-sum game the world’s ever seen. Right? And so, you know, to me, I think competition helps validate the model. So in Ethereum, you have a couple of them, BitMatrix and sBet, FG Nexus that’s run by a friend of mine, EthZilla, Ether Machine.

There’s now quite a few because they appreciate what a unique special asset it is. In Bitcoin, there’s now – there’s going to be a Bitcoin treasury in every market in the world. And, actually, Nakamoto, who I mentioned, and also some of my partners at 10x Capital are going to be doing the same thing and seeding and supporting Bitcoin treasuries in every market. Well, BNB, they have, you know, Binance.

They have Easy Labs, the family of CZ, and they have a vibrant ecosystem of companies and, you know, communities around the world that are very active in it. There’s a longtime investor in the space, Hashed in Korea, that’s had, you know, they’ve been putting out some research on BNB and, you know, its unique aspects and kind of as an asset. And so to me, we now have a head start here in the U.S. I believe there will be other kind of BNB digital asset treasuries that follow in our footsteps.

And, you know, the hope is that we’re able to execute on our strategy. We’ve accumulated over 400,000 BNB already. We announced that this week.

And I think through, you know, discipline, and we set an ambitious goal to get to one percent of the BNB supply by the end of the year. So I hope that, you know, we’re able to continue executing. And one thing I would say is that, really, like, I approach this as somebody who’s been through multiple cycles and been in the crypto space for a long time. When I’m investing in treasury companies, I’m investing in people and teams that I think are going to be able to execute in their strategies throughout this cycle and the next one. Right? I’m looking at people that are committed to being in the space over five, 10 years that aren’t just trying to capitalize on, you know, the market environment this year.

Robert:

Yeah. And you know, you’ve been in this space a lot longer than I have, but one thing I do write about a lot for our audience here over at Manward Press is that crypto does typically move in these cycles about, you know, three, four-year cycles historically at least. And I think that’s one thing that our audience keeps in mind is that, you know, obviously, there’s a huge opportunity in crypto right now, but there’s also a lot of risk as well. You know, there’s that symbiotic relationship between risk and reward. So let’s hit on that head-on here. What do you see as the biggest risk to this treasury strategy? You know, whether that’s, you know, something related to Binance itself or regulation or even just market volatility.

David:

Yeah. And I think that’s super important to think about. You know, like, even right now, I can tell you that a lot of the people, whenever times are very good and, you know, as we’ve had some nice momentum here for the past year, I think people within the crypto space, we have so much scar tissue. We’re always thinking about, all right.

What can go wrong here? Is it, you know, a centralized exchange hack, or custodian? Is it, you know, regulations changing? Is the political environment, you know, getting worse?

You know?

Is it some other, you know, global risks? And so we’re always kind of looking ahead and trying to worry about those things just to prepare. And I think with what’s happening with this kind of wave of digital asset treasuries, I think there’s risk to the underlying assets that the companies are buying. There’s risk to kind of regulation I mentioned, and then there’s risk to the execution that I think, you know, some teams and everything really don’t have experience within the crypto space.

They don’t realize and actually not just within the crypto space, but within the capital markets. That actually now that we bridge, you know, in this latest wave of the crypto and the capital markets together, there’s actually a lot of nuance and importance in dealing with the stock exchanges, dealing with the regulators, making sure to, you know, do all the right things, put the right people on the board and have the right oversight. And, you know, another key thing I’ve been hammering into a lot is really trying to caution investors. When you see the announcements of these deals happening, usually, you’re seeing these crazy price spikes.

And what I try to tell investors is that’s the absolute worst time to buy into it because, you know, there’s a deal recently where, you know, investors are paying 40, 50 times multiple to what the PIPE investors just paid. And, you know, I think it does – unfortunately, it does a disservice to the retail investor. Whereas, like, you know, the best thing I could do to caution that is I’d say to, like, wait a week until after the announcement’s there and the market’s digested and never buy into the hype.

Robert:

And that’s such fantastic advice. That’s one thing I try and control our audience’s emotions when investing as much as possible because I feel like that’s the worst thing you can do is you see, even if it’s not even a crypto treasury company, any stock or cryptocurrency, whenever it’s surging, everybody wants to buy then. But, you know, during bear markets, nobody even wants to talk about crypto, which is – I try and bring my experience to our audience.

And, I mean, you have – you’ve been in this space almost twice as long as I have. You know, I think it’s, you know, in any market, it’s kind of hard to predict the short term, especially the really short term after a big pop like that. But let’s, you know, zoom out a little bit, like looking out five, maybe 10 years. What do you think the crypto landscape is going to look like then and say 2030 or even 2035?

I mean, do you see corporate or even government treasuries or central banks holding digital assets similar to how they hold gold today?

David:

Absolutely. And we’ve already started to see it happen. You know, I was in El Salvador with CZ and a couple of other friends recently when soon after that, they made the decision to incorporate Bitcoin into their government balance sheet. And I think, you know, I have actively have other friends in the crypto space that are going around the world.

They’re meeting with, you know, presidents and prime ministers and government central banks. And they’re telling them, the finance ministers, they’re like, “Okay, El Salvador is number one. XYZ, these are number two, three. Where do you want to be?

Do you want to be number 10, 20, 50, or do you want to be forgotten?” Right? So I think the idea of central banks holding, and actually even in the U.S. now, I think we’re – we see some starts and stops over the past year, but I have a lot of conviction that within the next year, you know, the U.S. government is going to make announcements of, you know, strategic Bitcoin reserve and actually holding on to, you know, official crypto holdings. And so, you know, I think people are going to be looking at – Germany had sold off, I believe it was 50,000 Bitcoin or whatever it was at a price of 50 or 60 thousand.

Maybe it was a little more than that. And so people are going to look back in history at the decisions that governments make, you know, being right and wrong about whether they embrace crypto or not. And so I think another key thing that I like to bring up is, look, the total market cap of crypto assets today is around four trillion. Gold alone is over 15 to 20 trillion.

So when I look ahead, I expect Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, couple of other digital assets to lead the way in helping take crypto to be a 10, 20, 50 trillion-dollar industry. And so what that means is there’s more money to be made ahead than there is behind.

Robert:

All right. I just got one more question. I’m going to let you go here. I know you’re a busy guy.

So for our readers out there, you know, they’re invested in gold. They’re invested in stocks. You know, they’re probably familiar with crypto. They’ve been reading my work here the last few years, but maybe have never invested in it.

Why should they pay attention to what you’re building over at CEA Industries?

David:

Sure. So I think, you know, as I was saying, in the crypto space, like, Bitcoin has a number of vehicles now and ways for people to access it both directly through exchanges and through public markets. Ethereum has a couple of vehicles to get that exposure. Well, BNB is the missing piece.

And so with BNC and what we’re building in CEA Industries, investors finally have a NASDAQ-listed way to own what I think is the most overlooked blue-chip crypto asset. And so, you know, I think it’s a special time and, you know, we’re going to be executing. We’re going to continue to accumulate BNB. And, you know, I’m pretty excited about the coming years and decades ahead.

Robert:

We’re so excited here too to see what you guys can build. Thank you so much for joining me today, David. And, you know, if you’re watching out there, you know, whether you’re already a crypto investor or just watching from the sidelines, I think the takeaway here is pretty clear. This is an area that you really cannot afford to ignore, and crypto treasuries like CEA Industries represent a new way to think about storing value.

And as David pointed out, the long-term trends of debt and deficits and dollar weakness make digital assets more relevant today than ever. And as always, I’ll keep following this story closely so you can see how I’m positioning as well both here in Total Wealth and in the Breakout Fortunes portfolio. So thank you for listening, and thank you for joining us today, David, and I’ll talk to you soon. See you.

David:

Perfect. Thank you very much.