Solana kept pulling in institutional finance and payment activity during the first quarter, even as the broader crypto market weakened. In a new report, Messari said the network’s real-world asset market capitalization rose 43% quarter over quarter to $2.01 billion, driven by growth in BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund BUIDL and a wider set of integrations tied to payments and tokenized finance.
BUIDL, developed by BlackRock and Securitize, expanded to $525.4 million on Solana after Anchorage Digital added custody support for the fund. By the end of the quarter, Anchorage held about 81% of the asset’s supply on the network, according to Messari. The report’s broader point was clear: Solana is being used more as infrastructure for tokenized finance, not only as a venue associated with speculative trading.
Traditional finance firms expanded tokenized products onchain
Several established financial institutions increased Solana-related activity during the quarter. Ondo Finance launched more than 200 tokenized stocks and ETFs on the network through Ondo Global Markets. Franklin Templeton partnered with Ondo to bring tokenized ETF products onchain. Citigroup, working with PwC, also completed a proof-of-concept for tokenized trade finance on Solana.
Payments formed another major thread. Messari said companies including Visa, Stripe, Worldpay, Western Union and PayPal either integrated Solana for stablecoin settlement or launched Solana-native payment products over the past year. Low fees mattered. Near-instant settlement also made the network more attractive for payment infrastructure.
Stablecoin activity and application revenue held up
By the end of the quarter, stablecoin market capitalization on Solana reached $14.85 billion, placing the network third among blockchains. Adjusted stablecoin transfer volume increased 13% from the prior quarter to $246.8 billion. Despite weaker crypto prices, onchain activity remained relatively firm. Messari said total application revenue, which it calls “Chain GDP,” was roughly flat at $342.2 million during the quarter.
The report also said the nature of trading on Solana is shifting. Adoption of high-speed trading infrastructure known as “Prop AMMs” is rising, and Messari said these systems are starting to outperform centralized exchanges on execution quality and trading costs.
Alpenglow upgrade targets much faster finality
Messari highlighted Solana’s upcoming Alpenglow upgrade as one of the network’s most important technical developments. The upgrade is expected to cut transaction finality from about 12.8 seconds to roughly 150 milliseconds. In Messari’s view, that performance gain could support Solana’s position in payments, tokenized finance and AI-driven applications.