Safety Shot’s Stock Crashes 50% After $25M BONK Memecoin Bet

Shares of Safety Shot, a Nasdaq-listed wellness beverage maker, plunged by about 50% after the company revealed a major shift in its financial strategy, investing $25 million of its treasury into BONK, a Solana-based memecoin.

The move is part of a new partnership with BONK’s founding team, aimed at integrating the company deeper into the memecoin ecosystem. Safety Shot highlighted BONK’s fast, low-cost blockchain transactions as a competitive advantage over other popular tokens like Shiba Inu, Pepe, and Dogecoin.

According to the company, it has already cleared its debts and holds around $15 million in cash. To fund the memecoin purchase, Safety Shot will also raise additional capital through a $35 million convertible preferred share offering. Chief Executive Officer Jarrett Boon called the decision “a bold first step” in expanding the company’s operations beyond beverages and into the digital asset sector.

However, the market reacted sharply to the news, sending the stock tumbling to the $0.56–$0.59 range in after-hours trading. Just weeks ago, the shares had been gaining momentum, climbing 36% over the past month, but they are now down more than 22% for the year.

Analysts believe the sell-off reflects investor doubts about mixing a traditional consumer goods business with a high-risk crypto play. Similar experiments from other publicly traded companies have been met with skepticism, as memecoin investments are often seen as highly speculative and volatile.

The broader context also raises questions about timing. While the cryptocurrency market overall has risen by over 20% this year, the memecoin sector has struggled, with values dropping around 25% amid cooling enthusiasm. BONK has lost more than half of its value since its peak in late 2024, though it remains one of the top five memecoins by market capitalization.

The steep stock drop underscores a larger challenge for public companies experimenting with unconventional treasury strategies. While digital assets can offer new growth opportunities, sudden and risky pivots sometimes erode shareholder confidence in a single trading day.