OceanPal Inc., a global shipping transportation company, recently witnessed an over 21% drop in its stock value in after-hours trading. The plunge occurred shortly after OceanPal announced that it had raised $120M to acquire NEAR tokens and build AI infrastructure.
OceanPal Inc., based in Athens, Greece, was founded in 2021 and offers shipping transportation services. The company majors in ocean transportation for refined petroleum products and dry bulk commodities like coal, iron ore, and grain.
The shipping company decided to move into digital assets by launching SovereignAI, a blockchain and AI-focused initiative, in partnership with the NEAR Foundation.
However, the move triggered a negative action – a significant drop in OceanPal’s stock price.
OceanPal Inc. Dives into Digital Assets
In a recent development, OceanPal plans to implement a digital asset treasury strategy through its new AI-focused subsidiary, SovereignAI Services LLC. The shipping company secured $120M through a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction and sale of common stock and pre-funded warrants to fund SovereignAI.
According to the press release, SovereignAI will focus on commercializing the NEAR Protocol, a blockchain network designed for AI applications. OceanPal added that it plans to accumulate NEAR tokens, aiming to acquire about 10% of the token supply over time.
This move would make the Athens-based shipping company one of the leading institutional holders of this NEAR token. This reflects an increasing corporate adoption across the cryptocurrency sector.
OceanPal also intends to use the capital generated through its treasury management strategy
to build a unique blockchain-native, confidential AI-cloud infrastructure using NVIDIA tech and powered by NEAR.
Notable investors backed the transaction, including Kraken, Proximity, Fabric Ventures, G20 Group – among others.
Despite its new digital assets and AI strategy, OceanPal emphasized that it will continue its core business as a global provider of shipping transportation services.
Negative Market Reaction and Poor OceanPal’s Stock Performance
Barely a day following OceanPal’s announcement of the $120M private investment offering and the launch of SovereignAI, the company’s stock plummeted 22.5% in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
Data from Perplexity Finance showed that OceanPal’s latest announcement caused the stock prices to drop significantly. OP closed at $1.74, down over 21%. Overall, the company’s stock has faced a tough time this year, plummeting 94% year-to-date.
OceanPal’s stock is not the only one affected; NEAR also faced its share of the fall. According to data from CoinMarketCap, NEAR traded at $2.26 at press time, showing about a 4.38% loss over the past 24 hours and a 20.6% decline over the month.
As both OceanPal and NEAR Protocol face market downtrends, the crypto market awaits the success of OceanPal’s ambitious dive into blockchain-powered AI.
Other latest events in the crypto industry
On Monday, October 27, 2025, four new crypto ETFs – Bitwise Solana Fund, Canary Capital Litecoin, HBAR Fund, and the Grayscale Solana Trust – were approved. Canary Capital Litecoin and HBAR Fund were launched on Nasdaq on Tuesday, while SOL ETFs were launched on NYSE on Wednesday.
Despite the delay in approval by the US SEC, XRP whales bought $560M in XRP tokens over the past week, hoping for the US ETF approval soon.
