Compiled by: Scof, ChainCatcher
As more and more listed companies incorporate SOL into their balance sheets, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon, but potentially marks the emergence of a new treasury model. Enterprises are no longer just observing the crypto market, but are beginning to try using SOL as a sustainable asset allocation tool.
In this Space, we invited Margie, Head of Asian Market at Solayer, Richard Liu, Co-founder of Huma Finance, Darcy, Investor Relations Director at SonicSVM, and Ru7, CMO of SOON, to focus on this potentially forming "Solana Version of MicroStrategy" trend:
After Bitcoin, can SOL become the next pivot point for enterprise-level treasury? Will continuous buying change SOL's price logic? What impact will institutional players' entry have on DeFi and Staking yield models? If one listed company can generate cash flow by Staking SOL, will more companies follow suit in the future, treating SOL as a "productive asset"?
Is this a real trend or another FOMO?
For details, please refer to X: https://x.com/i/spaces/1jMJgkYVRDjJL
Question One: Will more and more listed companies incorporating SOL into their treasury break the current market structure? How might this "treasurization" trend change the industry's positioning and expectations of SOL?
[The rest of the translation follows the same professional and accurate approach, maintaining the original structure and meaning while translating to English.]Ru7: I believe Bitcoin is more like gold, serving as a value storage tool; while Solana is closer to Tesla or NVIDIA, a growth-oriented tech company with powerful technology and a diverse ecosystem. Solana not only has applications in DeFi, Non-Fungible Token, Web3, forming a complete business closed loop, but also possesses a clear business model and growth potential.
From a traditional investment perspective, investing in Solana is like investing in Tesla early on, focusing on its long-term market space and strategic value. Of course, it also carries high volatility risks, which pose challenges to traditional treasury management. At the same time, Solana heavily depends on its developer ecosystem, and the ecosystem's activity directly impacts its price performance.
Nevertheless, I remain optimistic about Solana's long-term potential, as it meets the conditions to become an important asset in the crypto market.
Darcy: Solana and Bitcoin have fundamentally different positioning. Bitcoin is more like a store of value asset, while Solana has Staking and yield-generating characteristics, with current annual yields between 6% and 8%, which adds a layer of holding value beyond simply relying on price appreciation. Additionally, Solana is more akin to an internet company, with a diverse ecosystem including DeFi, Non-Fungible Token, Web3 applications, and possessing platform-level business attributes. If using a traditional analogy, Bitcoin is like gold, while Solana is more like Tesla or the Android operating system.
As more enterprises and even financial institutions participate in Staking, Solana's Staking yield may evolve into a "chain-based benchmark interest rate". This not only can attract institutional positions but also derive various structured products, such as Staking-based leveraged combinations, fixed-income products, or on-chain "convertible bonds". Solana's asset logic thus becomes more robust, transitioning from a speculative asset to a fundamental financial tool.
Moreover, Solana carries a more pragmatic narrative: making Web3 affordable and accessible to everyone. This goal is closer to the practical needs of developers and entrepreneurs than Bitcoin's "trustless currency" and is more likely to drive mass adoption. I believe it is this combination of technological usability and yield structure that gives Solana a unique advantage in enterprise treasury scenarios.
I do not believe institutions will immediately change the market landscape of Solana, but they will gradually push Solana from a meme coin narrative towards a role more focused on payment and financial infrastructure. This is an irreversible trend that just needs time to settle and realize.
Darcy: I also believe this is a foreseeable trend. Solana will certainly hope to present a more institutionalized and high-end image in the future, and from the perspective of DeFi participants, institutional involvement will bring changes to the revenue model.
First, as institutions incorporate funds into their treasury, the overall ecosystem's security and stability will improve, but APY will correspondingly decrease, and revenue volatility will reduce. At the same time, to seek higher yields and liquidity, institutions and users may participate more in LST (Liquid Staking) protocols, such as JitoSOL, mSOL, bSOL, etc., promoting further integration of DeFi and staking systems.
On the other hand, institutional involvement will indeed dilute some of the original users' yields. With institutions having longer capital cycles and lower trading frequencies, network soundness will improve, and retail investors' short-term profit space will be compressed. However, the ecosystem will gradually differentiate, allowing retail investors to choose high-risk, high-yield meme coins or complex products, while users preferring stable returns can participate in Staking.
As ecosystem stability improves, Solana and the entire crypto market will be viewed by more people as a reliable asset allocation, rather than just a speculative tool. I believe this is an inevitable evolutionary direction.
Ru7: In fact, Solana's ecosystem itself has a powerful "self-generating" ability. Even if more institutions incorporate SOL into their treasury in the future, leading to increased staking rates and decreased individual yields, Solana's ecosystem's diversity and product innovation capabilities will bring more structured revenue products, continuously innovating the revenue model without simply diluting existing users' yield space.
Solana is a developer-driven ecosystem, with new protocols and financial products emerging constantly, which will make the revenue model more diverse and provide users with more choices. Long-term institutional funds will not only enhance the stability of capital pools but also bring scale effects, attracting more users and forming a positive cycle.
I think this change is like financial products such as credit bonds and ETFs in traditional finance. In the future, Solana's ecosystem will have more layered revenue products. Users can freely choose based on their risk preferences, such as selecting high-yield products similar to credit bonds or low-risk products like US Treasury bonds. As the ecosystem becomes richer, users will not be diluted but instead gain more choices and a better asset allocation experience.
Solana does not need to rely on a "godfather" figure to support it; its ecosystem and technological innovation are its greatest value. Like Tesla, people are not simply looking at Musk but the company's determination to send people to Mars. Solana's future lies in its ecosystem's development potential and expectations, not in relying on any specific enterprise or institution for endorsement.
Question Five: Currently, SOL lacks Bitcoin-like scarcity and a "faith layer" user structure, which challenges enterprise long-term treasury strategies. How can you inspire holders to maintain long-term holdings or continue adding SOL positions? What can establish sufficient confidence and consensus?
Richard: My stance is that Solana's ecosystem itself is the biggest support. Long-term holders will likely come from within the Solana ecosystem, especially top projects like Jupiter and Helios. In the future, platforms like Huma, if they grow to a similar level, will also become Solana's most steadfast supporters. These projects not only have strong vitality and resources but will also continuously support SOL due to their dependence on the Solana ecosystem.
I believe that the true drivers of Solana's long-term development will not be external financial groups but internal ecosystem projects. They bring not just funds but comprehensive ecosystem interaction and construction, and their support and value release for Solana will far exceed pure financial investment.
Going back to the fundamental difference, Bitcoin primarily relies on faith because it is digital gold, while Solana is a network, an infrastructure. Its core value lies in the ecosystem's builders and developers. In the future, when we see projects like Jupiter continuously supporting Solana, the ecosystem's strength will naturally grow stronger.
Darcy: I strongly agree with Richard's perspective. Solana does not need a religious leader-like figure. When a project lacks practical applications, it needs faith to maintain value; once it has actual applications and enters everyday life, it no longer needs to deliberately create faith. Actual use cases and application logic are the best value support.
As I mentioned before, Solana is more like the Android of Web3, representing a pragmatic, inclusive, and implementable vision. Through code, it allows more people to afford and use Web3, whether in gaming, payment, DePIN, or payment experiences like Visa - all real and directly perceivable by users.
Therefore, I believe Solana's path should be to promote Web3 popularization, not to pursue Web3's religious narrative or elitism. Its driving force comes from applications, not faith.
Ru7: I understand that traditional finance and crypto investments have different starting points. In the crypto world, many investments stem from cultural attributes and faith. Solana is more like a technology company with actual application scenarios and profitability, even more like Apple than just Tesla. Because Solana has a rich application ecosystem, not limited to a single product but including DeFi, payment, Non-Fungible Token, and DApp across multiple scenarios, just like Apple has phones, computers, watches, and App Store.
From an investment perspective, Solana has a strong developer ecosystem and continuous innovation capabilities with excellent fundamentals. For traditional financial institutions, this is precisely the type of asset they are willing to allocate, focusing on five to ten-year revenue cycles, and Solana's future growth potential clearly aligns with this logic.
I also look forward to seeing more institutions like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and BlackRock incorporating Solana into core allocations, or even becoming ETF main components, driving more user and capital attention to Solana. When this phenomenon occurs, Solana will become a brand frequently mentioned and used in daily life like Apple, thereby forming a true faith layer. This faith will no longer be an empty cultural narrative but a consensus based on application popularity and usage frequency.
Especially in the payment domain, the Solana network can already support users buying real-world goods with cryptocurrency, and in the future, it can help more infrastructure-poor countries improve payment efficiency. I believe these tangible applications will continuously enhance market confidence and long-term holding willingness for Solana.
Margie: From a market perspective, to inspire more people to hold or continuously add Solana positions, I believe we first need to establish a clear and long-term narrative, such as emphasizing that Solana is the world's fastest blockchain with ultra-low latency technological advantages. This narrative needs repeated reinforcement to form market memory, just like when we promote Infinite SVM, we constantly emphasize its million-level TPS capability.
Secondly, the Solana ecosystem itself is already very strong. We need ecosystem top projects and founders to continue speaking out, personally engage, and actively build confidence. If the market can bind these top projects with Solana's long-term value, this trust will be easier to form, and users will be more willing to hold Solana long-term.
