From Penny Stock to Crypto Rocket: Why OCTO Just Exploded 6,800% on a Worldcoin Bet

Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: OCTO) has become the most talked-about stock on Wall Street today, after shares rocketed as much as 6,800% in a single session on news of a transformative financing and strategic pivot into crypto. The tiny fintech firm, once valued at less than $5 million, is suddenly worth more than $100 million as traders piled into a story that blends artificial intelligence, blockchain identity, and some of the biggest names in tech finance.

The spark was a $250 million private placement priced at $1.46 per share, with another $20 million coming from BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR), a crypto-focused firm chaired by Tom Lee of Fundstrat fame. The placement involved issuing roughly 171.2 million new shares, with BitMine adding another 13.7 million. That massive dilution would typically weigh on a microcap stock, but the use of proceeds flipped the script: Eightco is adopting Worldcoin (WLD), the controversial cryptocurrency co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, as its primary treasury reserve asset. In other words, it plans to hold Worldcoin in the same way Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy became synonymous with Bitcoin. The deal is being marketed as the world’s first Worldcoin treasury strategy.

The company is also undergoing a rebrand. On September 11, Eightco will change its ticker symbol from OCTO to ORBS, reflecting Worldcoin’s iris-scanning “Orb” devices, which underpin the project’s Proof of Human identity system. This technology has already registered nearly 16 million users across 45 countries, creating zero-knowledge identity proofs to separate humans from bots in an AI-dominated future. Supporters, including Altman himself, argue it could become the internet’s universal authentication layer, a foundation for trust as generative AI blurs the line between real and synthetic content.

The financing was led by MOZAYYX, with participation from heavyweight investors such as World Foundation, Discovery Capital Management, Pantera, Brevan Howard, Kraken, and GSR, among others. RF Lafferty acted as the exclusive placement agent, with Cantor Fitzgerald advising MOZAYYX and Moelis & Co. representing BitMine. Winston & Strawn, Graubard Miller, and Lucosky Brookman provided legal counsel. That roster of institutions and advisers lent credibility to what might otherwise have been dismissed as a speculative microcap maneuver.

In a surprising twist, Eightco also announced that Dan Ives, the well-known Wedbush technology analyst, would become its new Chairman of the Board. Ives has long covered Apple, Tesla, and Microsoft, and his reputation on Wall Street adds a layer of legitimacy. In his statement, he framed Worldcoin as critical infrastructure for the “AI-driven Fourth Industrial Revolution,” arguing that proof-of-humanity will be indispensable as automation expands. For a company pivoting overnight into a cryptocurrency strategy, securing Ives’ leadership may help convince skeptical investors that this isn’t just a publicity stunt.

The reaction in the market has been nothing short of astonishing. OCTO stock exploded from $1.45 at Friday’s close to as high as $82.71 intraday Monday, before settling around $60 with volumes exceeding 145 million shares—nearly 30 times its average. That pushed its market value above $119 million. Retail traders flooded into the name, likening it to a new “crypto proxy play,” similar to MicroStrategy’s meteoric rise when it embraced Bitcoin. The frenzy underscored how thinly traded microcaps can deliver jaw-dropping returns when institutional backing and high-profile names are involved.

But beneath the euphoria lie serious risks. The issuance of nearly 185 million new shares means existing holders face massive dilution. The Worldcoin bet exposes Eightco to extreme volatility, with WLD still a niche token valued around $2.7 billion, according to CoinGecko. Regulators remain wary of both Worldcoin’s iris-scanning model and corporate crypto treasury strategies, raising the possibility of future crackdowns. And while Worldcoin’s 16 million registered accounts suggest traction, global adoption is far from guaranteed.

Still, for some investors, the gamble is worth it. Worldcoin positions itself as the solution to a fundamental AI-era problem: distinguishing humans from machines. Its zero-knowledge Proof of Human system, powered by Orbs, could become a cornerstone of identity verification across finance, social media, and e-commerce. If that vision plays out, Eightco’s decision to hold WLD rather than cash could be vindicated, giving it an early-mover advantage in what could become a trillion-dollar identity economy.

BitMine’s involvement is also notable. The firm, backed by Peter Thiel and chaired by Tom Lee, has itself adopted a treasury-style strategy for Ethereum, and its $20 million commitment to Eightco reflects confidence that Worldcoin could complement the broader Ethereum ecosystem. As Lee put it, World’s unique credentials could be “essential to future trust and safety between technology platforms and their billions of human users.”

For now, Eightco is the story of the day on Wall Street—a microcap that tapped into the hype cycle of crypto, AI, and identity verification, and was rewarded with one of the biggest single-day rallies in recent memory. Whether it can hold on to those gains will depend on execution, Worldcoin adoption, and regulatory clarity. But for retail traders and speculators, the lure of the “first Worldcoin treasury play” proved irresistible, and OCTO has suddenly found itself at the center of one of 2025’s wildest market moments.