A new report from Messari highlights that Solana emerged as one of the most watched projects in the first quarter of the year, attracting heightened attention from traditional financial institutions and payments giants alike. While the wider cryptocurrency market showed signs of stagnation, Solana distinguished itself through significant institutional engagement and technological advancements.
Major institutional adoption and the BUIDL fund
One of the standout developments was the expansion of the tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, which was created in a partnership between BlackRock and Securitize. The fund’s volume on Solana climbed to $525.4 million as a result of Anchorage Digital providing custody services. By the end of the quarter, Anchorage Digital reportedly held about 81 percent of BUIDL’s supply on the Solana network. These milestones positioned Solana as a leading infrastructure provider in the tokenized finance sector.
Traditional finance deepens ties with Solana
During the quarter, several traditional financial institutions increased their involvement with Solana. Ondo Finance added over 200 tokenized stocks and ETFs to Solana through its Ondo Global Markets platform. Meanwhile, Franklin Templeton collaborated with Ondo to bring tokenized ETFs to the blockchain. Additionally, Citigroup, together with PricewaterhouseCoopers, successfully completed a trial of tokenized trade finance using the Solana network.
Payments sector embraces Solana’s speed
For the payments industry, the report notes that major players like Visa, Stripe, Worldpay, Western Union, and PayPal capitalized on Solana’s fast transaction speeds and low fees over the past year. These companies either integrated Solana into their stablecoin payment operations or launched payment services directly built on the Solana platform. The network’s low fees and instant settlements have driven its rising popularity among payment providers.
Solana also scored notable wins in the stablecoin market. At the end of the quarter, the total market capitalization of stablecoins on Solana reached $14.85 billion, making it the third largest among all blockchains. On-chain stablecoin transfer activity increased by 13 percent compared to the previous quarter, totaling $246.8 billion over three months.
Stable income and technical progress
Despite broader declines in cryptocurrency prices, Solana’s on-chain transaction volume and revenue remained steady. Messari’s report states that “chain GDP,” or revenues generated by decentralized applications on Solana, stabilized at around $342.2 million in the first quarter.
The report also emphasized a shift in the nature of activity on Solana. There has been accelerating adoption of a next-generation, high-frequency trading infrastructure known as “Prop AMM” (Proprietary Automated Market Makers). This technology now delivers more competitive pricing and trade quality compared to central exchanges, according to analysts.
Messari described the upcoming Alpenglow network upgrade as a pivotal technical milestone for Solana. The upgrade is expected to reduce transaction finality times from around 12.8 seconds to just 150 milliseconds. This leap in performance could solidify Solana’s position across payments, tokenized finance, and AI-driven applications.
Solana’s growing reputation as a robust payment and finance platform is reflected in the expanding list of institutional partners and major financial players leveraging its capabilities. The increasing presence of global financial heavyweights on Solana underscores the network’s potential to redefine blockchain-powered finance.
In addition to appealing to established firms, Solana’s technical updates and the appeal of emerging market instruments like tokenized ETFs are drawing new users to the ecosystem. This mix of innovation and adoption continues to push Solana ahead in a market seeking alternatives to legacy finance.
Notably, the upcoming Alpenglow upgrade is widely anticipated as it promises to drastically improve transaction confirmation speed on the network. The expected reduction from over 12 seconds to 150 milliseconds may play a critical role in attracting more payment applications and high-frequency trading platforms to Solana.
Messari’s findings illustrate that, even in a subdued crypto landscape, platforms offering genuine technical utility and scalable solutions are still able to secure institutional traction. Solana’s consistent delivery on performance and product development could set the tone for broader adoption across the sector.
Looking forward, the combination of stable revenues, new private sector partnerships, and game-changing technical upgrades make Solana a central focus for both blockchain insiders and mainstream finance as digital asset infrastructure matures globally.
