NovaBay Pharmaceuticals (NBY) Stock Jumps 19% on Stablecoin Pivot

TLDR

• NovaBay Pharmaceuticals jumped nearly 19% after announcing it will rebrand as Stablecoin Development Corporation
• The company is changing its ticker from NBY to SDEV, effective April 3
• NovaBay holds 2.06 billion SKY tokens — about 8.8% of total supply — worth roughly $150 million
• A $134 million private placement backed by Tether Investments and Framework Ventures funded the pivot
• Despite Monday’s spike, the stock remains down more than 95% year to date

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals saw its stock surge nearly 19% on Monday after announcing a full strategic pivot away from eye care biotech and into the stablecoin economy.

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., NBY

The company said it plans to rebrand as Stablecoin Development Corporation. Its ticker will switch from NBY to SDEV, with the change taking effect on April 3.

The pivot is not entirely new. Back in January, NovaBay filed with the SEC outlining plans to operate as an “on-chain holding company framework focused on long-duration participation in protocol-level digital asset ecosystems.”

NBY stock spiked 19% to around $1.38–$1.40 on the news. That said, the stock is still down more than 95% year to date, so the jump comes off a very low base.

Sky Token Holdings at the Center of the Strategy

The engine of NovaBay’s new strategy is its position in SKY, the governance token of the Sky protocol — the rebranded MakerDAO ecosystem that issues the USDS stablecoin.

As of March 16, the company holds approximately 2.06 billion SKY tokens. That represents roughly 8.8% of the total token supply, valued at around $150 million. SKY is currently trading at $0.073, according to CoinGecko, up about 15% year to date even as broader crypto markets have pulled back.

The position was built using proceeds from a $134 million private placement completed in January. Investors in that round included Framework Ventures, Tether Investments, and the Sky Frontier Foundation.

Staking Rewards and Future Plans

NovaBay’s staking program has already generated 26.6 million SKY tokens in cumulative rewards. The company said it plans to continue buying additional SKY tokens on the open market.

SKY is currently the only digital asset approved under the company’s operating and risk management framework. But NovaBay has flagged yield-bearing stablecoins as a key area of interest going forward.

NovaBay was founded in 2000 in California and spent over two decades focused on eye care biotech before this shift.

The move comes as stablecoin regulation is gaining traction in Washington. Lawmakers recently reached an “agreement in principle” on how stablecoin yield should be treated in a broader crypto market structure bill — a step toward Senate Banking Committee legislation.

The company’s strategy centers on holding protocol-aligned digital assets for extended periods to participate in what it calls “protocol-level economic activity.”

Cumulative staking rewards now stand at 26.6 million SKY tokens, with active efforts underway to increase the position further.

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