NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Forward Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: FORD) (the "Company" or “Forward Industries”), a leading Solana treasury company, today announced the launch of its institutional grade validator node on the Solana blockchain, powered by DoubleZero, a high-performance global network purpose-built for distributed systems. The Forward Industries validator has already begun to operate on DoubleZero’s best-in-class infrastructure, underscoring the Company’s commitment to adopting the highest-performing decentralized technology platforms and its continued advancement of internet capital markets.

Developed in collaboration with Galaxy and leveraging Jump Crypto’s Firedancer client, the Forward Industries validator will allow ecosystem participants to delegate stake directly to Forward Industries. The validator offers 0% commission, enabling investors to stake to the node at no cost. Importantly, all tokens staked by Forward Industries are currently delegated to this validator, and all future Forward Industries validators will operate on DoubleZero. Forward and DoubleZero will pilot validator and network optimizations to increase revenue, increase bandwidth, and reduce latency.

At launch, the Forward Industries validator is expected to rank among the top ten Solana validators globally, marking a significant milestone in the Company’s evolution from capital provider to active ecosystem contributor.

“Decentralized networks only reach their full potential when the underlying infrastructure meets institutional standards of scale, security, and performance,” said Kyle Samani, Chairman of the Board of Forward Industries. “DoubleZero has rapidly emerged as the leading platform for high-performance validator operations, combining best-in-class engineering with the reliability institutions require. By running our validator on DoubleZero and establishing a long-term partnership with the platform, we are aligning with the foremost innovators in blockchain infrastructure and directly supporting Solana’s ability to operate at global scale. Together with DoubleZero, Galaxy, and Firedancer, we are fortifying the network’s resiliency and helping ensure Solana remains the standard for institutional adoption in decentralized finance.”

DoubleZero is a global fiber network for high-performance distributed systems, designed to address the limitations of the public internet for blockchain workloads. The network offers an alternative, packet-optimized network that improves transaction routing, reduces latency, and increases validator efficiency while maintaining decentralization and cryptoeconomic guarantees by enabling permissionless contributions of underutilized fiber bandwidth from multiple independent contributors.

To view Forward Industries’ Solana validator, please visit https://solanabeach.io/validator/3JD3jMmnR6g88qff2WZ3cMHJRjJMUk9yVZtmYTYeFrXf.

To learn more about Forward Industries' Solana treasury strategy, please visit sol.forwardindustries.com. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of Forward Industries’ securities, nor shall there be any sale of Forward Industries’ securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Forward Industries, Inc.

Forward Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: FORD) is a global design company serving top tier medical and technology companies. For over 60 years the company has been successful in developing and producing a portfolio of outstanding products for some of the world’s leading companies and brands. In September 2025, Forward Industries initiated a Solana treasury strategy dedicated to acquiring SOL and increasing SOL-per-share through bespoke strategies and active management of the company’s treasury. The Company’s Solana treasury strategy is supported by industry leading investors and operating partners, including Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital. For more information on the Company’s Solana treasury strategy, visit sol.forwardindustries.com.

About DoubleZero

DoubleZero is a purpose-built network for modern, high-performance distributed systems. Leveraging fiber links from independent network contributors, DoubleZero offers increased bandwidth and reduced latency for high-performance distributed systems, like blockchains, by providing an open, decentralized, permissionless network. In short, the DoubleZero Network is a new internet optimized for distributed systems. To learn more, visit: https://doublezero.xyz.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “expect,” “plan,” “could,” “may,” “will,” “believe,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “goal,” “project,” and other words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements address various matters including statements relating to the Company’s plan for value creation and strategic advantages, market size and growth opportunities. Each forward-looking statement contained in this press release is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statement. Applicable risks and uncertainties include, among others, failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the transactions and the proposed digital asset treasury strategy; changes in business, market, financial, political and regulatory conditions; risks relating to the Company’s operations and business, including the highly volatile nature of the price of Solana and other cryptocurrencies; the risk that the price of the Company’s common stock may be highly correlated to the price of the digital assets that it holds; risks related to increased competition in the industries and markets in which the Company does and will operate (including the applicable digital assets market); risks relating to significant legal, commercial, regulatory and technical uncertainty regarding digital assets generally; risks relating to the treatment of crypto assets for U.S. and foreign tax purposes, as well as those risks and uncertainties identified in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this document, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of these statements.

Contacts

Media Contact
Carissa Felger / Sam Cohen
Gasthalter & Co.
(212) 257-4170
Forward@gasthalter.com

Forward Contact
Michael Pruitt
(704) 578-2238
mp@avenelfinancial.com

Kathleen Weisberg
(631) 547-3055
kweisberg@forwardindustries.com