Bitwise’s Chief Investment Officer, Matt Hougan, believes Solana is quickly positioning itself as the go-to blockchain for Wall Street as big financial players hunt for faster, more scalable digital finance infrastructure.
Key Points:
- Bitwise’s CIO says Solana’s lightning-fast speed makes it the top choice for stablecoins and tokenized assets on Wall Street.
- Hougan predicts tokenized stocks will revolutionize how we handle payments, stocks, bonds, and real estate.
- Bitwise is betting on Solana’s growth, especially for ETFs, thanks to its quick unstaking and trading advantages.
During a recent chat with Solana Labs’ Akshay Rajan on October 2, Hougan boldly claimed, “I think Solana is the new Wall Street,” highlighting the blockchain’s high-performance and tech edge as major draws for institutional investors.
Stablecoins and Tokenization: The Future of Finance
According to Hougan, financial institutions are waking up to the power of tokenization and stablecoins, seeing them as game-changing tech that will overhaul everything from how payments are made to capital markets.
“Stablecoins will reinvent payments, and tokenization will reinvent stock, bond, commodity, and real estate markets,” Hougan said.
Solana’s settlement speed has improved dramatically from 400 microseconds down to just 150 microseconds—which appeals to institutions used to lightning-fast trading environments.
“That’s how they like to trade,” Hougan said, explaining how Solana’s architecture aligns better with Wall Street’s pace than slower blockchain options.
Despite Ethereum’s dominance, Solana is gaining ground. It currently hosts $13.9 billion in on-chain stablecoins, holding a 4.7% share of the market, based on data from RWA.xyz. Ethereum still leads with a massive $172.5 billion in stablecoins across its mainnet and layer-2 networks like Arbitrum, Base, and Polygon.
But momentum is shifting as projects look for blockchains that offer faster speeds and lower fees.
Ethereum Fans Aren’t Sold Yet
Not everyone is convinced about Solana’s rise. AJ Warner, Chief Strategy Officer at Offchain Labs, pointed out Ethereum’s much higher total value locked (TVL) and argued that EVM-based ecosystems remain the top choice for launching stablecoin projects.
Still, Bitwise is increasingly vocal in backing Solana. At Token2049 in Singapore, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley suggested Solana might hold a structural advantage over Ethereum in the race to create staking ETFs.
He highlighted Solana’s faster unstaking times as critical for products that need to quickly return assets to investors.
Bitwise currently offers the Bitwise Physical Solana ETP, which is backed by actual SOL tokens held in institutional-grade custody. While the fund is modest with $30 million in assets under management, Bitwise also has a spot Solana ETF awaiting a final SEC decision expected by October 16.
Solana ETFs Show Growing Institutional Interest
Several top asset managers including Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and Bitwise have filed updated proposals for spot Solana ETFs, some with staking features. ETF analyst Nate Geraci expects the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could approve these by mid-October, making it a landmark month for digital asset funds.
These filings come after the recent debut of the REX-Osprey Solana Staking ETF on the Cboe BZX Exchange, which attracted $12 million in inflows on its first day.
Analysts agree Solana is quickly becoming the altcoin of choice among institutional investors, with strong inflows also reported from European Solana ETPs.
Geraci and others believe that the staking language in these Solana ETF filings could open the door for the long-awaited spot Ethereum ETFs that include staking capabilities.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin exchange-traded products currently hold over 1.47 million BTC, about 7% of the total Bitcoin supply, with U.S.-based ETFs dominating that market.
This article captures Bitwise’s growing optimism about Solana’s role in the future of institutional digital finance, highlighting the blockchain’s speed, ETF potential, and the shifting interest beyond Ethereum .
