CEO Bitwise: Solana will be the stablecoin network favored by Wall Street

The Chief Investment Officer of the digital asset management company Bitwise, Mr. Matt Hougan, believes that Solana will become the top choice for stablecoins on Wall Street and the process of tokenizing real-world assets (RWA).

"I think Solana is the new Wall Street," Hougan shared in a conversation with Akshay Rajan from Solana Labs on October 2. He stated that the traditional financial community still sees Bitcoin as a "fragile" and "hard-to-access" asset, making it difficult for them to fully harness its potential.

According to Hougan, investment organizations are increasingly recognizing the enormous potential of stablecoins and the tokenization sector – two trends that he believes will "reshape the entire global financial market." He emphasized:

"Influential figures are saying that stablecoins will reshape the payment system, while tokenization will revolutionize the stock, bond, commodity, and real estate markets."

As financial experts evaluate investment options, they are gradually realizing that blockchain is the answer. And in that blockchain world, Solana stands out due to its speed, superior processing capabilities, and quick transaction finality – factors that make it particularly attractive to Wall Street.

Hougan cited that the transaction processing time of Solana has decreased from 400 microseconds to just 150 microseconds – a breakthrough that makes investors feel "familiar," as this is the transaction speed they have always desired to achieve.

A remarkable achievement that demonstrates Solana's dominant position: this network currently leads the entire market in the field of tokenized stock trading. In the last 30 days, Solana accounted for over 95.6% of the total trading volume on DEX exchanges, far ahead of Gnosis with 1.98% and Ethereum with 1.83%. The only exception was on September 26, when Ethereum's market share unexpectedly soared to over 30%, yet Solana still held strong at 67%. Aside from this day, Solana consistently maintained a stable market share above 89%, clearly affirming its superior advantage.

The trading volume of crypto stocks on DEX of Blockchains | Source: SolanaFloor## Ethereum remains the "king" of stablecoins

According to data from RWA.xyz, the total value of stablecoins on Solana has risen to 13.9 billion USD, accounting for about 4.7% of the global market share. Although this increase indicates the growing appeal of Solana, the figure is still quite modest compared to Ethereum – the "king" in the stablecoin sector, which currently holds up to 172.5 billion USD in circulating stablecoins, equivalent to 59% market share.

If we include Ethereum's Layer-2 networks such as Arbitrum, Base, and Polygon, this dominance rate even increases to 65%, reinforcing the near-absolute position of the EVM ecosystem.

Commenting on this discrepancy, Offchain Labs' Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. AJ Warner, stated:

"TVL is not everything, but clearly the best place to issue new stablecoins is still within the EVM ecosystem."

Bitwise continues to make big bets on Solana

This is not the first time Bitwise leaders have expressed strong confidence in Solana.

At the Token2049 conference in Singapore last week, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley stated that Solana could surpass Ethereum in the race to develop staking ETFs, thanks to its more investor-friendly and flexible design.

He emphasized that the staking withdrawal time on Solana is significantly faster than on Ethereum, a key factor for ETF funds. "ETFs need the ability to return digital assets in an extremely short time — and that is the biggest challenge for Ethereum," Horsley said.

The decision on Bitwise's Solana ETF is about to be announced

Currently, Bitwise is operating the Bitwise Physical Solana ETP, providing investors with the opportunity to gain direct access to SOL through a model fully backed by physical assets and a custodial system that meets institutional standards. However, the level of interest remains quite modest compared to Bitcoin or Ether-based ETF funds, with total assets under management of only about 30 million USD, according to data from Bitwise.

At the same time, the company has also submitted an application to establish a Solana spot ETF, which is currently awaiting approval from the SEC, with a final decision expected to be made on October 16.

As of the time of writing, the price of SOL has increased by 2% in the day, fluctuating around 235 USD, still about 20% lower than the historical peak set in January 2025.

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