Avalanche Treasury Co. to Go Public in $675M Deal With Mountain Lake Acquisition
Avalanche Treasury Co. (AVAT), a digital asset treasury company aligned with the Avalanche Foundation, said Wednesday it has agreed to merge with Mountain Lake Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: MLAC) in a deal valued at more than $675 million. The transaction, which includes about $460 million in treasury assets, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026 pending regulatory and shareholder approval. The combined company plans to list on Nasdaq, offering investors exposure to AVAX tokens, Avalanche’s native digital asset. AVAT’s strategy involves purchasing AVAX at a discount and securing priority access to future token sales by the Avalanche Foundation. Avalanche Treasury Co. Deal Structure and Market Positioning AVAT said its initial funding round will provide approximately $460 million in treasury assets. The firm aims to expand that to over $1 billion in AVAX holdings following the public listing. The company will offer shares at what it describes as a discounted multiple of net asset value compared to direct token purchases or exchange-traded fund alternatives. The company’s leadership includes Chief Executive Bart Smith, who previously worked at Susquehanna International Group and AllianceBernstein. The board and advisory team will draw from both traditional finance and crypto sectors, with participants such as Ava Labs founder Emin Gün Sirer, Aave founder Stani Kulechov, and Dragonfly Capital partner Haseeb Qureshi. Strategic Goals and Ecosystem Ties AVAT intends to invest in projects within the Avalanche blockchain, including enterprise applications, real-world asset tokenization, stablecoins, and payment infrastructure. It also plans to provide validator resources and liquidity to institutional users launching custom blockchains on the Avalanche network. Mountain Lake CEO Paul Grinberg said the acquisition reflects growing institutional interest in digital assets. Avalanche has been positioning itself as an enterprise-ready blockchain framework, with corporations and financial institutions building applications on its multi-layer network. Investor Participation and Timeline The deal has attracted backing from a mix of institutional investors and digital asset firms, including Dragonfly, ParaFi Capital, VanEck, Galaxy Digital, Pantera Capital, CoinFund, and Kraken. FalconX will provide execution and credit services, while Monarq will act as asset manager for AVAT’s treasury operations. The merger is expected to close in early 2026, after which AVAT plans to begin deploying capital directly into the Avalanche ecosystem projects.
