New York morning trade. The major crypto prices are trying to recover after slumping yesterday, and the state followed the Senate, failing to advance Clarity. But DeFi is still growing, even without this framework. And looking at Solana's blockchain, we see that real world assets have topped the $4.2 billion level, and this is happening as tokenized stocks boom as markets move on chain and trade 24/7.
Along those lines, over 60% of tokenized equity volume on Solana is happening while U.S. exchanges are closed, and institutions are also getting in on the action. BlackRock's tokenized money market fund has also seen significant growth on the blockchain. Joining me live here at the New York Stock Exchange this morning is Nick Ducoff, Solana Foundation's Head of Institutional Growth.
Nick, great to have you back on the show. Thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you for having me.
Well, first and foremost, there's been a lot of focus on the regulatory landscape, but I do want to get your perspective on what's actually driving Solana's real world asset footprint growth.
So Solana is the most used blockchain in the world. And I think that people, once they trade on Solana, have a hard time wanting to go back to using any other traditional rail. And so that's what we're seeing now. There's over half a million users that have real world assets in their wallets around the world.
The vision for Solana is this idea of internet capital markets, connecting the world's internet users, of which there are five and a half to six billion, with the world's global productive assets. And so that's anything that can be tokenized, from commodities like gold and silver to stocks. And tokenized stocks, as you mentioned, are growing incredibly quickly on Solana.
And I think we'll continue to see more of that.
Yeah. And here we are counting down to the final quarter of 2026. And heading into this year, there was a lot of focus on institutional adoption, as well as the plumbing for what's happening at the intersection of TradFi as well as DeFi. So tell us what the traditional heavyweights, when we're talking about the big banks, what are they looking for when it comes to blockchain infrastructure?
So I think if you think about where the world is going, the world is moving faster. The world is more connected. And large financial institutions want to figure out ways to make their internal operations more efficient. They want to make their customers happier. And all of that is removing costs and increasing speed.
And that's the thing that Solana does better than anything else. And so as they look to advance their capabilities technologically, they are looking at blockchain. And when they look at blockchain, they look at Solana. And we see that with over seven globally systemically important banks using Solana, as well as virtually every asset manager that's done anything on chain, from BlackRock to Fidelity to Franklin Templeton to Apollo, all have a Solana capability as well.
And I do want to expand on tokenized equities that are trading on Solana. So what are we seeing in the data?
So we had a really interesting use case this past week. A company started trading called Grindr and actually had two times the volume on Solana than it had on the publicly listed exchange. And so I think that's an example of what's possible when you allow an asset to be traded by anyone around the world, not just someone with a brokerage account.
And that's really, I think, the promise of tokenized equities: 24/7 global trading in a single liquidity venue.
And let's talk about the reality of 24/7 trading. Because if we look at 2026, it's been volatile around the globe. And as a result, we all know that people, not just here in the U.S. but also around the globe, want access to the markets on a regular basis. So here at the New York Stock Exchange, the markets open at 9:30 and close at 4.
But how far away are we from that reality?
I think it's already here. You know, the saying is the future is here. It's just unevenly distributed. I think the future of 24/7 is already here. And you see that on Solana. There's already great trading firms like we see Citadel here on the floor of the stock exchange that do follow this on trading.
You know, the day starts in Tokyo and ends in New York and then starts again, where they're having to move to different exchanges and venues to continue trading. Right now, all of that activity can happen in one place, on chain on Solana.
And of course, we are standing here after the cloture vote that took place yesterday. So where do you stand when it comes to the regulatory landscape here in the U.S. right now?
Obviously, Clarity failing to pass cloture yesterday was a disappointment, but we see continued growth in enthusiasm for blockchain activity across the spectrum, and I think that will continue. So while yesterday unquestionably was a disappointment, I think that we'll continue to see growth on the blockchain from large financial institutions and retail users alike.
Yeah. And you are here in New York City, Nick, and there are a lot of events that are taking place. So what are stakeholders saying when it comes to institutional growth right now in DeFi?
Well, I'll tell you, later today, I'm on a panel with the CEOs of MoneyGram and Santos at the Goldman Sachs fintech conference, but it's very clear that the train has left the station, and these financial institutions must innovate to continue to maintain their strong, strong position in their relative markets.
And I think they all recognize that blockchain is imperative to that continued success. And so, you know, you mentioned Clarity failing to pass cloture yesterday. I think irrespective of that, everyone is going to keep building on chain. And I think we'll get more regulation and support around it over time either way.
The work continues.
Yeah. And when we're looking at the Solana ecosystem, I understand that there are events that are coming down the pike for 2026. And I know that all of you and your team are counting down to these events. So why do you think these events are so key, especially from a global perspective?
Well, you might be referring to our large annual conference, Breakpoint, which is this November in London, November 15th, 16th and 17th. I hope you'll join us, Remy. But last year, Breakpoint was in Abu Dhabi with over 7,000 attendees from 100 countries. I think people want to get together IRL. People want to share their experiences, want to experience, come together and trade notes, want to see the people that are helping innovate together and build the future of technology.
And that's really what Breakpoint is. It's a celebration of technology, technology accelerationism and exceptionalism. And so we believe that this is just the beginning of the token supercycle. And there'll be much more to come at our Breakpoint event in London this year.
Yeah. And last but not least, for viewers out there who are watching, we have about 60 seconds here, so many might be wondering, given the price action that we're seeing across the crypto majors and even Solana, are we out of the winter yet?
Okay, are we out of the winter? So I think there are definitely green shoots. We were just talking about the weather changing. It is in deep fall by the seasons here in New York. But I think it is spring. And I think we'll see a blooming summer in crypto in the next couple quarters.
I don't know about, are we out of the woods? Is it going to go down or is it going to go up? I can tell you, though, that if you look at on chain activity, it continues to hit new all time highs every day. And I think people are starting to really recognize that blockchain is here to stay and it's going to continue to grow.
And as an asset class, I think it's still very, very early.
Well, Nick, appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining us as always, and I appreciate you joining us live here at the New York Stock Exchange. Thank you. Thank you.
