DeFi guru controls $2.03 million of US stock companies, management launches counterattack

2025-07-17 23:08:21

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Will Leshner turn LQR House into the MicroStrategy of the DeFi space?

The publicly listed liquor retailer LQR House, located in Miami Beach, Florida, has recently been in turmoil.

On July 14, 2025, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that Compound founder Robert Leshner had personally acquired approximately 600,000 shares of the Nasdaq-listed company LQR House Inc. (LQR), raising his ownership stake to 56.9%, making him the largest shareholder.

According to the submitted 13D form, Leshner's total investment amounted to about $2.03 million, with some shares purchased through Interactive Brokers at $3.77 per share.

This news caused LQR House's stock price to surge by 45% during Monday's trading, reaching $10 before the market closed on Wednesday, doubling from his purchase price.

However, Leshner's acquisition was not smooth sailing, quickly turning into a capital battle over control, clashing with the board of directors.

The Battle for Control and Counter-Control

"I have acquired a controlling stake in $YHC, a low-market-value liquor company with a somewhat tarnished history. My plan is to replace the board and help the company explore new strategies." On July 14, the same day as the SEC announcement, Leshner expressed his "intent to change" and warned retail investors: "I have not conducted extensive due diligence, and there are signs that the company may be up to no good. But please be especially cautious with any low-market-value company; I could lose all my investment, and so could you."

According to the SEC filing, Leshner plans to propose the removal of all current board members and nominate a new board team through written consent or a special shareholders' meeting, in accordance with the company's bylaws and Nevada state law.

Leshner also emphasized that he has not yet reached any specific agreements with other shareholders or third parties but does not rule out further communication and collaboration with relevant parties in the future.

However, Leshner's plans seem to have encountered some obstacles.

On the same day, LQR House submitted a supplemental filing to the SEC, stating that it would increase the number of shares available for sale through a sales agent to $46 million, excluding shares worth $2,700 sold under the ATM agreement prior to the supplemental filing date.

Typically, ATM offerings are a flexible financing method for listed companies, but at this sensitive moment, it clearly carries deeper implications.

After reviewing the supplemental materials, Leshner stated: "I disagree with LQR House's approach to issuing shares through the ATM; I believe it is ineffective, and I am consulting with lawyers." The next day, July 15, LQR House's shareholder Kingbird Ventures LLC filed a lawsuit in Florida court, accusing CEO Sean Dollinger and board members of breaching fiduciary duties, misappropriating assets, and violating corporate bylaws; requesting the court to freeze certain share changes and suspend board powers to prevent a "hostile takeover."

If the court grants a temporary restraining order (TRO) or injunction, Leshner's attempt to convene a special shareholders' meeting and remove the current board may be temporarily shelved.

Additionally, according to sources, the company may attempt to use a "poison pill" strategy to counterattack. The so-called "poison pill" refers to a strategy where, once a shareholder's ownership exceeds a predetermined "trigger line," the company automatically issues new shares to other shareholders (excluding the acquirer) at a significant discount, thereby diluting the acquirer's ownership and increasing acquisition costs, potentially forcing them to abandon the takeover.

However, Leshner's supporters are also not backing down.

On July 16, 2025, Makesy Capital announced the acquisition of 0.1% of LQR House's shares and pledged to support Leshner's reforms. At the same time, Makesy Capital launched an online campaign against LQR House CEO Sean Dollinger, stating that this would serve as a warning to CEOs of publicly traded companies treating the public market and investors as private piggy banks.

As of the time of publication, this battle for control and counter-control is still ongoing, with both sides cautiously probing, wary that any careless decision could have negative repercussions.

Why LQR House?

LQR House is a Nasdaq small-cap company, with a market value that once dipped below $3 million; even after a recent surge, its market value is only around $11 million.

At first glance, this seems like a speculative game involving micro-cap stocks, but Robert Leshner's entry offers another possibility.

As the founder of Compound, Leshner was a pioneer in on-chain finance. He led Compound to ignite the DeFi lending trend and has actively explored the integration of DAOs and RWAs over the past two years. As crypto capital continually seeks deeper integration with traditional markets, and with a surge of crypto stocks, this tech-savvy DeFi pioneer has chosen to bet on LQR House. The reasons may be threefold:

First, the identity of a publicly listed company. LQR House has Nasdaq listing qualifications, and the compliance pathway is already established. For crypto players looking to enter traditional capital markets, such "lightweight" public companies hold unique strategic value. Bypassing the high costs associated with IPOs or SPACs, leveraging existing capital market channels makes it easier to become a springboard for capital, trust, and influence.

Second, low control thresholds and a loose equity structure. LQR House has a dispersed equity structure and a small float, making it easier for external capital to quickly gain control. This is highly attractive for investors looking to build cross-border capital platforms. Leshner acquired a 56.9% controlling stake for $2.03 million, which is far more cost-effective than most capital operation cases.

Finally, the company itself has already begun to engage in crypto business. According to CoinDesk, LQR House announced a $1 million Bitcoin injection into its treasury and initiated crypto payment services. This indicates that it has taken a step toward bridging digital assets and traditional retail, laying the groundwork for extending into the crypto capital ecosystem.

Is a Compound Version of MicroStrategy Coming?

Since MicroStrategy incorporated Bitcoin into its balance sheet and SBET became the new darling of the stock market, a trend of "public companies holding crypto" has swept through global capital markets.

The most pressing question in the market is: Will Leshner turn LQR House into the MicroStrategy of the DeFi space? Will he incorporate $COMP or even crypto lending into LQR House, forming a new asset reserve and capital operation model?

Of course, there is one thing that may be overlooked. Leshner is not only the founder of Compound; his latest title is founder of Superstate.

Superstate, a company founded in 2023, is targeting the on-chain fund and compliant tokenized asset space.

Unlike Compound, which focuses on pure DeFi users, Superstate aims to provide traditional asset funds based on blockchain for institutional investors, with its first product being a tokenized version of a "short-term U.S. Treasury fund," directly targeting the traditional financial market.

The key phrases that Superstate has consistently emphasized are: on-chain compliance, asset tokenization, and institutional friendliness. Its ambition is to bridge the connection between traditional finance and on-chain assets.

This may be Leshner's potential strategic direction for LQR House.

As an existing Nasdaq-listed platform, LQR House holds the "ticket" to the traditional financial market, which can provide a public capital market showcase for Superstate's compliant products, RWA business, or on-chain funds.

The combination of the two suggests the possibility of creating a "listed platform under Superstate," using the public market to drive traffic to on-chain products and providing a legitimate and compliant secondary market channel for Superstate's fund-raising.

Additionally, LQR House's previous involvement in crypto payments and digital asset initiatives could serve as a "testing ground" or ecological application channel for Superstate's products.

This differs slightly from MicroStrategy writing Bitcoin into its reports or SharpLink Gaming holding Ethereum; Leshner may want to embed on-chain funds and tokenized assets into the capital operations of a publicly listed company.

Truly bringing "on-chain capital" into the traditional financial framework, creating a compliant DeFi-TradFi linkage model.

This will be a deeper experiment.

Not just a story of holding crypto, but a story of capital.