Solana Draws Institutional Firms as Tokenized Finance and Payments Grow
Solana's tokenized finance and stablecoin activity saw significant growth in Q1 2026, despite declining prices across the broader crypto market. According to a report from Messari published May 18, Solana attracted growing participation from institutional finance and payment firms. The research firm noted that the nature of activity on the network is shifting away from speculative trading and toward infrastructure for tokenized finance and payments.
Solana's real-world asset (RWA) market cap rose 43% quarter-over-quarter to $2.01 billion, driven in part by the expansion of BlackRock and Securitize's tokenized money market fund BUIDL on the network. BUIDL grew to $525.4 million on Solana after Anchorage Digital added custody support.
Banks and payment firms also expanded their Solana-based activity during the quarter. Ondo Finance launched more than 200 tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) through Ondo Global Markets on Solana, while Franklin Templeton partnered with Ondo to bring tokenized ETF products on-chain.
Citigroup and PwC completed a proof-of-concept for tokenized trade finance built on Solana's infrastructure. Payments emerged as a separate area of growth, with Visa, Stripe, Worldpay, Western Union, and PayPal each integrating Solana for stablecoin settlement or launching Solana-native payment products.