Greenlane Taps Web3 Veteran for High-Stakes Blockchain Reinvention

BOCA RATON, FL – February 18, 2026 – Greenlane Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNLN) today named technology executive Jason Hitchcock its new Chief Executive Officer, a move that solidifies the company's radical pivot from a struggling lifestyle accessories distributor to a public company singularly focused on the high-risk, high-reward world of decentralized finance.

Effective immediately, Hitchcock is tasked with leading Greenlane's ambitious and recently-formed Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) strategy. The strategy centers entirely on the Berachain blockchain, a new and well-funded network, where Greenlane aims to become the largest public holder of its native BERA token. The appointment installs a leader with deep Web3 credentials at the helm of a company betting its entire future on a nascent digital frontier.

A New Captain for a New Course

Jason Hitchcock is not a traditional public company CEO. His career has been forged in the fast-paced environments of technology startups and the complex architecture of decentralized finance. He joins Greenlane from thirdweb, a leading Web3 developer platform, where he served as Head of Business Development, building the company’s enterprise strategy across more than 150 blockchain networks.

His background also includes co-founding Four Moons, a DeFi advisory and investment firm where he managed digital asset strategies focused on yield generation. This hands-on experience in deploying capital within DeFi protocols is precisely what Greenlane's board has hired him to replicate on a public company scale. His mandate is to oversee an aggressive accumulation of BERA tokens through active participation in the Berachain ecosystem, including running validator infrastructure, staking tokens, and providing liquidity to decentralized applications.

"I'm excited to lead Greenlane's strategy to accumulate BERA and put our treasury to work within Berachain's Proof of Liquidity ecosystem," Hitchcock said in a statement. He emphasized the unique design of Berachain, which rewards active participation over passive holding. "Greenlane intends to be the largest public holder of BERA and to use the scale of our position across validators, reward vaults, and liquidity pools to capture yield generated by this flywheel and accelerate our accumulation strategy."

From Lifestyle Goods to Digital Ledgers

This strategic overhaul represents one of the most dramatic business transformations for a Nasdaq-listed company in recent memory. Founded in 2005, Greenlane was once a prominent distributor of premium cannabis accessories and vape products. However, the company's legacy business has been in a state of severe decline.

In the third quarter of 2025, just before the pivot was initiated, Greenlane reported a staggering 82% year-over-year drop in revenue from its traditional business, which fell to just $0.74 million. Its net loss for the quarter widened to $8.9 million. These dire figures, which included a "going concern" warning from the company about its ability to continue operations, set the stage for the radical shift in October 2025.

That month, Greenlane announced it was raising capital through a private placement to fund its new Berachain-focused treasury strategy. The move was a clear signal that the company was abandoning its collapsing legacy operations to seek salvation in the volatile but potentially lucrative crypto market. The appointment of a CEO with Hitchcock's specialized background is the final confirmation of this all-in bet.

The Berachain Bet

Greenlane's chosen ecosystem, Berachain, is not a random pick. The blockchain project has attracted significant attention and capital, raising $150 million from top-tier digital asset investors like Brevan Howard and Polychain Capital. Its main innovation is a consensus mechanism called 'Proof of Liquidity' (PoL).

Unlike traditional 'Proof of Stake' systems where users simply lock up tokens to secure the network, PoL is designed to align network security with on-chain economic activity. It incentivizes users to provide liquidity to decentralized finance applications, creating what Hitchcock refers to as an "economic flywheel." The network operates with three interconnected tokens: BERA for gas and staking, HONEY as a native stablecoin, and BGT as a non-transferable governance token used for rewards.

Greenlane's strategy is to become a core infrastructure player within this flywheel. The company has already committed to deploying up to 50 million BERA units into validator nodes, which are essential for processing transactions and securing the network. By actively participating, Greenlane aims to generate yield and accumulate more BERA, creating value for shareholders through the growth of its digital asset treasury rather than through the sale of physical goods.

A Skeptical Market and an Uncertain Future

While the company's strategic pivot is bold, it has been met with considerable market skepticism. The initial announcement in October 2025 triggered a 45% spike in GNLN's stock price, but analysts noted the move lacked significant trading volume, suggesting it was not driven by broad market conviction. Since then, the stock has trended downward, with the company receiving a "Sell" evaluation from market analysts just prior to Hitchcock's appointment.

On the day of the announcement, Greenlane's stock was down in pre-market trading, indicating that investors remain wary of the high-risk transformation. For Hitchcock, the challenge is immense. He must not only execute a complex DeFi strategy flawlessly but also do so under the intense scrutiny of public markets and regulators like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

He is tasked with building a bridge between the regulated, disclosure-heavy world of a Nasdaq-listed entity and the fast-moving, often opaque world of decentralized finance. While more public companies are adding digital assets like Bitcoin to their balance sheets as a hedge, Greenlane's approach of making a specific, non-mainstream crypto asset the core of its entire business model is virtually unprecedented. The success or failure of this gambit could become a defining case study for the future of corporate finance in the digital age.