Real-World Adoption in the Solana Ecosystem

In an era where Blockchain technology is playing a pivotal role in transforming the world of finance, 'Solana' stands out as a leader with its high-speed performance and low transaction fees. Lu Yin, APAC Lead of the Solana Foundation, shared Solana's vision and in-depth strategy for building the financial ecosystem of the future. This was part of a conversation with Ryan Kim, Co-Founder & Partner at Hashed, during the REDeFiNE TOMORROW 2025 event, in a session that delved into Solana's approach to achieving widespread adoption, especially among financial institutions.

Internet Capital Markets: Solana's Ultimate Goal

Lu explained that Solana's primary objective (its “North Star”) is to create “Internet Capital Markets” to solve the problem of “Fragmented Liquidity” that exists today. This is based on the fundamental concept that “liquidity begets liquidity,” meaning that to build a complete financial ecosystem, you need both “Digital Cash” and a variety of “Digital Assets” to coexist on the same platform for seamless exchange. This vision is supported by proven performance, as Lu pointed out that “Solana processes more real transactions each day than most other networks combined.”

To achieve this, Solana has been proactively forming comprehensive partnerships with giants in the financial world:

• Payments: Collaborating with Visa, PayPal, and Worldpay to build a next-generation payment network.
• Assets: Working with global financial institutions like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton to bring financial assets on-chain.
• Innovation: Partnering with Superstate to promote on-chain IPOs, a significant step for capital markets.

Solana's Plan to Overcome the Hesitation of Financial Institutions

Solana is employing a strategy to win over financial institutions by breaking down three major barriers with ‘R3’ and ‘Internal Champions’.

One of the key challenges is to confidently bring financial institutions, accustomed to permissioned systems, into the world of permissionless systems. Lu explained that these institutions face three main obstacles: technological readiness, compliance and security assessment frameworks, and finding an internal “Business Sponsor” to champion the project.

• To break down these barriers, Solana is using two key elements: a partnership with R3, a “permissioned” platform that banks are already familiar with and trust (with over $10 billion in assets in circulation). This creates a bridge for banks to start projects in the “safe zone” of R3 before gradually expanding into the larger world of Solana. This allows Solana to offer the “best of both worlds.”
• Additionally, the phenomenon of “Internal Champions” – individuals who have previously worked in crypto companies and have moved into roles within financial institutions – is another key factor in accelerating the adoption of this technology from within. These experts from the crypto world act as “champions” or “internal advocates” because they have the unique ability to act as interpreters between the worlds of traditional finance and crypto. They can explain the technology to executives, help create appropriate compliance frameworks, and credibly point out business opportunities. This makes them powerful "Business Sponsors" who can help projects get approved more easily.

In short, Solana is using R3 as a technical bridge and Internal Champions as a personnel bridge to incentivize and remove all obstacles, enabling financial institutions to successfully step into the world of Blockchain.

The Future of Use Cases in Asia: “Payments” and “Tokenization” on a Foundation of Clear Regulations

Lu sees massive growth potential in the Asian region, with “regulatory clarity” being a key driving factor. He praised the progress in Hong Kong (in terms of its sandbox and stablecoin regulations), Japan (which has authorized the use of USDC), and South Korea (where the new government is pro-crypto). This provides a foundation for the exponential growth of two main use cases:

1. Payments: The growth of cross-border payments using crypto is soaring. Solana is working with providers at all levels to create solutions that merge the worlds of payments and investments.
2. Tokenization and Money Markets (in DeFi): The tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) is unlocking the next level of potential for DeFi. An existing example is the use of tokens from the “Apollo ACRED” fund as collateral for borrowing in DeFi protocols on Solana, such as Drift and Kamino.

Balancing CeFi and DeFi to Drive Mass Adoption and Foster Innovation

Lu clarified Solana's position between the worlds of centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi), stating that Solana works with both because both are crucial for driving the larger goal:

• Working with CeFi: Partnering with financial institutions like BlackRock or Visa is another key to driving mass adoption.
• Pushing DeFi Innovation: At the same time, Solana continues to be a space for developers and creators to experiment and build new, out-of-the-box use cases.

Ultimately, Lu believes that these changes are inevitable. He concluded by saying, “Everything in your world is 24/7 and on the internet. Eventually, capital markets will follow. The demand side will be what pulls this into reality.”