Solana news: Solana Sheds Meme Coin Image as Major Banks Move Billions into Its Ecosystem
Institutional Adoption Accelerates
A recent report by Messari highlights a significant shift in Solana's reputation, as major financial institutions and payment companies increase their involvement in the network. Despite a subdued cryptocurrency market, Solana attracted substantial institutional capital in the first quarter, with its real-world asset market capitalisation rising by 43% to $2.01 billion.
Growth in Tokenised Funds
The growth was driven by the expansion of BlackRock's BUIDL tokenised money market fund, which reached $525.4 million on Solana after Anchorage Digital introduced custodial support. Anchorage held approximately 81% of the asset's volume on the network by quarter's end. This development underscores Solana's evolving role as a platform for tokenised finance, moving beyond its earlier association with speculative trading.
Traditional Finance Integration
Several established financial firms increased their activity on Solana during the quarter. Ondo Finance launched over 200 tokenised equities and ETFs via Ondo Global Markets, while Franklin Templeton partnered with Ondo to introduce tokenised ETF products. Citigroup, in collaboration with PwC, completed a proof-of-concept for tokenised trade finance on Solana.
Payments and Stablecoins
Payments have become a key focus, with companies such as Visa, Stripe, Worldpay, Western Union, and PayPal either integrating Solana for stablecoin settlements or launching native payment products on the network. Solana's low transaction fees and near-instant settlement times are cited as major advantages for payment infrastructure.
By the end of the quarter, Solana's stablecoin market capitalisation reached $14.85 billion, ranking it third among blockchains. Adjusted stablecoin transfer volume grew 13% year-on-year to $246.8 billion.
Sustained Network Activity
Despite declining cryptocurrency prices, Solana's network activity remained steady. The total application revenue, described by Messari as the network's "chain GDP", held at approximately $342.2 million for the quarter.
Technical Developments and Future Outlook
Messari notes a shift in network activity towards high-speed trading infrastructure, such as "Prop AMMs", which are reportedly surpassing centralised exchanges in execution quality and trading costs. The upcoming Alpenglow upgrade is expected to reduce transaction finality from around 12.8 seconds to approximately 150 milliseconds, potentially strengthening Solana's position in payments, tokenised finance, and AI-driven applications.
