Jack Kubinec 

Mert Mumtaz

Jeffrey Albus

The essential source for all things Solana — exclusive news, deep analysis, and the latest trends.

Lightspeed

Gm! This week we're joined by Mike Dudas to discuss the current state of crypto venture. We deep dive into the 6MV origin story, liquid vs venture investing, Solana's app ecosystem &amp; more. Enjoy!
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Follow Mike: https://x.com/mdudas
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Ledger, the global leader in digital asset security, proudly sponsors the Lightspeed podcast. As Ledger celebrates 10 years of securing 20% of global crypto, it remains the top choice for securing your Solana assets. Buy a LEDGER™ device now and build confidently, knowing your SOL are safe.
 
SOL lovers, grab your Ledger Flex Solana Edition now at:
https://ecommerce-shop-frontend.stg.ldg-tech.com/products/ledger-flex-solana-edition-sol-eligibility
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(00:00) Introduction
(02:03) The 6MV Origin Story
(06:42) The Revenue Meta
(08:15) Liquid vs Venture Investing
(14:05) Ledger Ad
(14:35) Crypto’s Token Problem
(26:03) Solana’s App Ecosystem
(31:45) Ledger Ad
(32:14) What We’ve Learned From Hyperliquid’s Success
(38:22) Pump Fun’s ICO
(43:49) The IPO Window Is Open
(48:49) Is Trump Good Or Bad For Crypto?
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Disclaimers: Lightspeed was kickstarted by a grant from the Solana Foundation.

Nothing said on Lightspeed is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mert, Jack, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

The Rise Of Crypto's App Ecosystem Mike Dudas

In this special episode from the Empire podcast, Blockworks unveils its new Token Transparency framework—an initiative designed to close the information gap and bring much-needed clarity to the crypto space. Dan Smith, Head of Data at Blockworks, explains how this framework will reshape how token projects operate and why transparency is the key to crypto’s future. Enjoy!
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Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. 
Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts
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Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod
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Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh
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Chapters:
(00:00) Token Transparency
(02:25) The Token Market &amp; Lemons
(11:40) Equity vs Token Risk
(14:18) Structural Token Issues
(17:12) How Did We Get Here?
(22:57) Token Horror Stories
(31:50) Token Launches
(56:50) Best Case Scenario
(01:02:38) Impact On Token Prices
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Empire | Introducing The Token Transparency Framework

Gm! This week we're joined by Carlos Gonzalez Campo to discuss the recent Solana ETF filings. We deep dive into what this means for SOL in 2025, takeaways from Circle's IPO, CLOBs vs AMMs, should pump compete with Hyperliquid &amp; more. Enjoy! 
--
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Subscribe to the Lightspeed Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed
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Zenrock is a permissionless, decentralized custody network backed by 1RoundTable Partners, 10T, Maven11, and Spartan. Live on Jupiter, $ROCK is the native token for transactions within the Zenrock ecosystem and secures Zenrock’s decentralized custody network.
 
The first application launching on Zenrock is zenBTC – yield-bearing Bitcoin on Solana. zenBTC will be live in April 2025. Visit zenbtc.io to learn about earning yield with Bitcoin on Solana.
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Grab your tickets to Permissionless IV. Use code LIGHTSPEED10 for 10% off: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iv
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Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/
--
(00:00) Introduction
(01:50) Solana ETFs Are Coming
(06:04) Are Treasury Companies Better Than ETFs?
(09:39) Zenrock Ad
(10:28) Will Solana ETFs Include Staking?
(17:14) Will Solana ETFs Be Successful?
(18:22) CLOBs vs AMMs
(26:35) Zenrock Ad
(27:25) Should Pump Compete With Hyperliquid?
(31:56) Can Solana DEXs Compete With Hyperliquid?
(38:03) Takeaways From Circle’s IPO
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Disclaimers: Lightspeed was kickstarted by a grant from the Solana Foundation.
 
Nothing said on Lightspeed is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mert, Jack, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Solana ETFs Are Coming With Carlos Gonzalez Campo

Jack Kubinec

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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As a card-carrying member of the “nothing ever happens” club, many of my thoughts on whether or not news has been priced-in can be summarized by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/eberem/everything_is_priced_in/">this</a> classic Reddit post.&nbsp;



Nevertheless, one of my guests on the Lightpeed podcast this week explained why ETH has been slowly gaining ground on solana — and why he believes that trend may continue.



<a href="https://youtu.be/TUY-_P-9A9s?si=rjFfNy1XZh4dqFEt">I hosted Geoff Kendrick</a>, the head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, to explain his Solana thesis. Standard Chartered is a relatively large global bank based out of the UK. This Solana report was the bank’s first, in what may be a show of Solana’s growing relevance to institutional investors.&nbsp;



The report is bullish on SOL, offering a price target of $275 by year’s end and a target of $500 by the end 2029, but it predicts that ETH will outperform SOL in the short to medium term. I found this surprising given how bad the vibes surrounding ETH have been in recent months — and how mostly positive things have been in Solana land.&nbsp;



SOL consistently <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/l1">leads</a> ETH in real economic value (a Blockworks Research metric for the tips and fees that measure demand to land transactions on a blockchain) despite Solana having a quarter of Ethereum’s market cap. ETH’s big headwind <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/non-crypto-native-companies-ethereum">is its L2s</a>, which have helped the blockchain scale but may be damaging to ETH’s ability to accrue value since they take on a lot of trading volume, but pay relatively little in fees to Ethereum. Geoff believes the bad vibes surrounding ETH are already “priced in.”



“There was a lot of debate in 2024 about, ‘Do [L2s] add or subtract value?’” Kendrick said. “So, let’s say that a lot of that story has already played out in a relative sense.” He later added: “For Solana, you came off massive multi-year lows post-FTX, had a comeback in 2023 thanks to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-market-impact-solana-memecoins">memecoin activity</a>, but now that memecoin trading is post-peak, Solana may underperform Ethereum in the near term.”



Kendrick argued that the market trades Solana at a discount relative to its economic activity from memecoins because it views memecoin trading as unsustainable. I would note that memecoin activity has proven more sticky than many might have predicted — pump.fun generated $50 million in revenue last month, despite a dip in usage — but we’ll have to see how all of this plays out over time. 



Kendrick’s thesis has been correct over the past month, at least. The ratio of SOL’s price to ETH’s price is <a href="https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/SOLETH/">down</a> nearly 15%.



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<ul class="wp-block-list">
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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Solana’s price run might stall as ETH gains institutional favor

Jeff Albus

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Solana&#8217;s memecoin season mostly played out on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/dexs">DEXs</a> like Raydium and Jupiter, with centralized exchanges, which sometimes only get around to listing new tokens after their popularity has peaked, sitting the party out.



Hard to blame them at the time. Liquidity was scattered, tokens were often unserious and (in earlier political climates) listings seemed sure to attract unwanted scrutiny from the big-bads at the SEC.



But the world has changed, there&#8217;s money to be made, and strategies are now in flux.



Last week, centralized exchange Bybit <a href="https://x.com/byreal_io/status/1934085435212308789">announced</a> a new Solana-based exchange called Byreal. According to the company, it&#8217;s being built from scratch and incubated in-house. Today, the project&#8217;s socials went live with the announcement of a testnet, set for June 30, and a mainnet slated for Q3 this year.



According to the announcement, Byreal will offer a &#8220;hybrid&#8221; model meant to merge centralized liquidity with decentralized execution.&nbsp;



Pitched as an extension of Bybit itself, it will route trades using Request for Quote (RFQ) and Concentrated Liquidity (CLMM) mechanisms, integrate MEV protection and leverage unified liquidity sources. Users get execution from market makers or LPs, depending on the asset and conditions.



There&#8217;s also Revive Vault, a curated yield product designed to deliver real yield on Solana assets like bbSOL, and its own token launchpad, called Reset Launch.



The latter seeks to create a more equitable token distribution by combining a Smart Price Ladder that raises token prices incrementally with a Fairshare Engine that distributes allocations based on participation rather than speed.



And that&#8217;s all well and good, but in a world already full to bursting with competing DEXs, why does Bybit think Solana needs another one?



Well, despite DeFi&#8217;s promise of open, onchain finance, most trading still happens on centralized exchanges. That&#8217;s partly due to liquidity fragmentation, partly due to painful UX, and mostly because DEXs still can&#8217;t compete with CEXs on slippage, speed or price execution.



With its fast finality and low fees, Solana is uniquely positioned to bridge that gap. But its most popular DEXs tend to specialize: Phoenix offers pure order books, Jupiter routes swaps and Raydium hosts memecoin liquidity.



Then there’s the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/hyperliquid-hype-valued-l1-perps-dex">growing trading juggernaut</a> in Hyperliquid — which uses colocated validators to hit CEX-like performance in a no-KYC DEX environment. It’s obviously a different blockchain with some centralization tradeoffs, but Solana, DEXs, and CEXs could all have a lot to lose if Hyperliquid becomes the retail crypto trading platform of choice.



The Solana market-proper lacks a DEX that combines deep liquidity, fair price discovery and streamlined onboarding into a single package, though.



So that&#8217;s the play for Byreal: balance CEX-grade execution, DeFi transparency and user experience while unifying liquidity into a single trading venue. If it can ship fast and attract real projects, Bybit probably won&#8217;t be the only CEX to script a second act beyond CeFi.



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Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thebreakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Bybit

Solana gets new hybrid DEX from Bybit

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Volatility is back. After rallying to $167 on June 11, SOL <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/sol">reversed</a> sharply below $145 as geopolitical shocks rattled risk markets. Israeli airstrikes on Iran and the ensuing global rush to hard assets <a href="https://x.com/3orovik/status/1849954887469089125">appear to be the trigger</a> here.



Oil surged. Gold <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/13/oil-and-gold-prices-soar-after-israel-attacks-on-iran">climbed</a>. Solana and Bitcoin stumbled off a cliff.



Early Friday, we saw BTC <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">dip briefly below $103k</a>, triggering over $400 million in long liquidations before rebounding to ~$105k. Solana dropped around 9.6% with $52 million in liquidations, third only to BTC and ETH.



Despite the correction, Solana&#8217;s <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/solana">core metrics have held</a>. Daily transaction counts remain around 80 million. Compute throughput is stable. Application revenue is steady at $4-7 million/day.



Solana&#8217;s DEX layer is rotating, with volume down to $2.5-3.5 billion, from over $6 billion in May. Pump.fun continues to dominate meme traffic while SolFi captures SOL-USD pairs. Meta-aggregators like Titan and Kamino Swap are <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/solana-meta-aggregators">quietly gaining ground</a>, offering better routing via off-chain sources like Pyth&#8217;s Express Relay, and even as volumes dipped, execution efficiency improved.&nbsp;



Underneath the rabble, <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/solana?dashboard=131">Solana&#8217;s staking layer is unshaken</a>. The stake rate holds at 65.4%, with net activations still outpacing deactivations. Liquid staking tokens, led by jitoSOL, remain steady near $7 billion. MEV tips from Jito declined post-frenzy, but validator income remains resilient. In other words, no real crisis of confidence is to be seen among active users.



It&#8217;s easy to see why some might worry superficially, what with SOL currently testing $140 support. A breakdown could open moves to $123 or even $110. But if BTC holds above $100k and oil premiums fade, SOL seems likely to stage a recovery.



Like it or not, the technical binary of reclaiming momentum vs. a deeper correction likely hinges a lot on bitcoin’s next move.



It&#8217;s a tough one to predict, given that the macro environment remains so unstable. Fed policy is tight, energy volatility is high, and crypto is once again correlated to equities and oil. That said, the US regulatory backdrop continues to shift positively.



President Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/donald-trump-digital-asset-summit-address">public embrace</a> of dollar-backed stablecoins and federal frameworks adds a long-term bullish undertone, for instance — especially for chains like Solana that anchor stablecoin infrastructure.



The bottom line is, Solana is weathering a macro squall with surprising internal strength. While price remains pinned by risk-off sentiment, the ecosystem&#8217;s throughput, revenue and <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/solana?dashboard=39">developer momentum</a> are intact.



If the market stabilizes and volatility recedes, Solana could quickly reassert leadership in the next leg up. If not, our real test won&#8217;t be whether the network avoids the downside but how well it builds through it. So it has been, and so (someday, though maybe not today) it shall be.



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Lightspeed Newsletter

Solana slides on macro pressure as oil and gold rally

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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As regulation becomes clearer and the number of national banks rumored to have stablecoin plans grow, it seems like much of America’s financial sector is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-does-stablecoin-summer-look-like">coming to grips</a> with a future involving stables. But compared to these well-heeled and technically-savvy TradFi institutions, local banks and credit unions —&nbsp;where a <a href="https://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/bank-sizes-study-survey.html#:~:text=Generally%20speaking%2C%20consumers%20prefer%20large%20financial%20institutions.,and%2021%%20mostly%20use%20a%20credit%20union.">sizable</a> percentage of Americans do their banking — are almost certain to lag behind in this trend.



To help narrow this gap, Beam and Braid are partnering to offer stablecoin infrastructure to community banks and credit unions in the US, Lightspeed has learned exclusively.



The program will open with seven partner banks across the American northeast and midwest, Beam founder and CEO Dan Mottice told me. At a basic level, Braid offers a set of APIs that allow smaller banks to modernize their product lines — like adding real time payments or new card network capabilities, for instance — and Beam is providing the stablecoin-specific infrastructure.



In exchange for these capabilities, the banks will pay a licensing fee plus transaction fees on the stablecoin flows, a Beam representative said.



Mottice, who was previously product lead for <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/visa-crypto-team">Visa’s crypto arm</a>, founded Beam in 2022. Under the prior SEC regime, the stablecoin company primarily conducted business outside of the United States, in regions where dollar access <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/latin-america-growing-crypto-hotbed">was desirable</a> (like Latin America and Africa).



When the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-wallet-magic-eden">crypto-friendly</a> Trump administration came to office, Mottice and Co. began trying to pre-empt new US-based market opportunities that might emerge, Mottice told me. One segment that came to mind was community banks, many of which feel like they missed out on the fintech wave of the 2010s and may be keen on becoming early adopters of a newer financial innovation in stablecoins. This is especially important as these banks’ depositor bases age, and as sthey face the task of courting younger, more-online customers.&nbsp;



Banks with under $500 million in assets under management will be given access to a Braid innovation sandbox that unlocks access to faster payouts, cross-border transactions and modern wallet experiences, according to a blog post from Beam that was viewed by Lightspeed.



For banks with more than half a billion in AUM, Beam and Braid can offer more direct integration and the capacity for enterprise-scale stablecoin products. Mottice added that Beam has begun to have conversations about white-label stablecoin issuance on behalf of banks, although those talks are still in their early stages.



The product will primarily run on Solana, Mottice said, which he cast as more of a “backend network choice” than as a pitch to the banks themselves, who primarily care about speed and cost but may not be as in-the-weeds about the benefits of one blockchain over another.&nbsp;



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<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thebreakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Banks

Beam and Braid to offer stablecoins to smaller banks

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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The Solana-based golfing loyalty app GolfN has gone live on the App Store, Lightspeed has learned exclusively.



The mobile app combines collectibles with digital caddie features and a native GOLF token for an experience that CEO Jared Phillips described to me as “Chase rewards meets Strava meets Pokémon Go.” The app’s self-reported waitlist of over 47,000 golfers will now gain access to the latest shot at crypto consumer rewards.&nbsp;



Upon downloading GolfN, I was directed to create a free account. I then received three digital golf clubs, which enable rewards, but most rounds with my free account will only earn me non-financialized “tickets.” However, non-members earn points for their first round, and there are other free in-app ways to gain points.



To gain better access to points, which will soon become convertible to Solana-based GOLF tokens, users have to get a paid GolfN membership that runs between $15 to $1,000 per month. These memberships come with a slew of perks and will also let users accrue points that can become GOLF, which can be redeemed for things like golf gear or traded on the open market. GolfN will also circulate partly via “rentals” of virtual golf club collectibles.



When I asked Phillips how the economics of such a scheme can work, he said he expects golfers to be willing to shell out a monthly fee to be rewarded for the money they put into golf, similarly to how membership-based credit cards work. For GolfN’s golf industry partners, the app can offer more finely-tuned customer data, Phillips said.



As for the users themselves, Phillips estimated GolfN will have a 10:1 ratio of non-crypto to crypto people since the app is built for golfers more than for crypto-natives. Nevertheless, Phillips argued that “not everyone in crypto golfs, but everyone in crypto is golf-adjacent.”



“The average person in crypto is more highly educated than not — usually bachelor’s degree —&nbsp; generally makes more money, and has more disposable income,” Phillips said, noting that a number of crypto people have “come out of the woodwork” as golfers while he’s been building the app.



Golf and crypto’s demographic overlap has made the sport a target for crypto experimentation in the past, particularly with LinksDAO — a group that <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/01/03/linksdao-nft-sale-books-first-10m-toward-buying-an-actual-golf-course">raised</a> $10 million in a 2022 NFT sale with the promise of buying a golf course. It actually went on to do so, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/08/03/linksdao-the-online-community-that-bought-a-golf-course-is-accepting-new-members">acquiring</a> Spey Bay Golf Club in Scotland in 2023 and gating club membership with the NFTs. LinksDAO has <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/02/12/linksdao-plans-to-launch-a-community-token-on-base">become</a> part owner of a second course in Kansas City.



GolfN boasts a lot of potential demand. But if the app has an Achilles’ heel, it may be its complexity. Even as someone who writes about crypto full-time, my head spun for a few minutes trying to grok the distinctions between GOLF, points, tickets, digital clubs and digital golf balls. We’ll see if the golfers fare better.



Updated 6/12/25 at 9:05 a.m.: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that GolfN memberships start at $50 per month, rather than $15. Article has also been updated to note that non-members can earn GolfN points.



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Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thebreakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

crypto apps

Solana-based golf rewards app GolfN hits App Store

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Validator clients are the software that nodes run to participate in consensus and maintain the network. They <a href="https://blockworks.co/analytics/solana/solana-supply-staking-and-validators/solana-validator-clients">validate and vote</a> on blocks, process transactions, and generally just keep the network alive, handling both consensus and execution in a single piece of software.



Historically, Solana&#8217;s entire ecosystem has relied on one implementation, a Rust-based client developed by Solana Labs, and now maintained by Anza under the name Agave. Today, however, the vast majority of stake (90%+) runs on Jito-Solana, a fork of the Agave client with added MEV infrastructure.



The centralization of that effort is a problem, though. If Jito-Solana were to fail, the network risks performance issues or even a chain halt.



Jump Crypto&#8217;s Firedancer is the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-solana-firedancer-testnet">leading contender</a> meant to break that monoculture, and it gets a heck of a lot of lip service in our community. This is not without good reason, of course. Once it&#8217;s live, it&#8217;ll be modular, wicked fast, and capable of handling over a million transactions per second.



But firepower aside, it&#8217;s hardly Solana&#8217;s only client in development. In fact, multiple teams are working on their own clients, with some already live and potentially capable of matching or even outmaneuvering Firedancer&#8217;s ambitions.



Let&#8217;s take a look at a few and compare.



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Jito-Solana was an <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-validators-mev-concerns">early breakaway</a> from Agave and is now the dominant client by stake weight. It&#8217;s not a ground-up rewrite but a fork of the original client with an MEV infrastructure. Jito introduced a bundle auction system that lets validators capture MEV more transparently, and share those rewards with stakers, not just slot leaders. By proving that validators would adopt client software offering new incentives, Jito opened the door for more experimentation and design specialization.</li>
</ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Sig is Syndica&#8217;s <a href="https://blog.syndica.io/introducing-sig-by-syndica-an-rps-focused-solana-validator-client-written-in-zig/">answer</a> to Solana&#8217;s performance ceiling. Where Firedancer pushes raw throughput for validators, Sig targets read operations. It&#8217;s written in Zig, a language focused on readability and memory control, and nearly all dapp interactions involve reading data rather than writing it. Sig overhauls the architecture to prioritize reads per second (RPS), resulting in dramatic speed gains for light clients, dapps and anyone syncing with the chain. It also has a more accessible codebase for contributors who find Rust daunting.</li>
</ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Paladin is a lightweight fork of Jito-Solana. Like Jito, it originated as a modified version of the original client and claims to <a href="https://buffalu.substack.com/p/understanding-paladin-an-analysis">add new logic</a> to handle MEV more transparently. Its core innovation is the P3 port, a protected lane for token-gated transactions intended to prevent sandwich attacks and curb extractive behavior. While Paladin promotes fairness and aims to redistribute MEV to stakers, it’s also faced <a href="https://buffalu.substack.com/p/understanding-paladin-an-analysis">criticism</a> for introducing fragmentation and reducing validator earnings. When reached for comment, Paladin core contributor Edgar Pavlovsky disputed data showing Paladin validators earn less. He argued that if anything, Paladin is less fragmenting than Jito, which adds extra steps to the transaction process via its block engine and bundler.</li>
</ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>TinyDancer is something else entirely. It is Solana&#8217;s first <a href="https://docs.tinydancer.io">open-source light client</a>, offering trust-minimized mobile access. The client supports SPV-style verification, data availability sampling and even fraud proofs, all designed to let users confirm network integrity without relying on third-party RPCs.</li>
</ul>



These clients each approach the problem from different angles. Alone, they&#8217;re targeted solutions to narrow problems, but together, they make Solana stronger, safer and more decentralized. Though most are still in development or early adoption, they reflect a maturing ecosystem where no single team defines our path forward.



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blockchain

Inside Solana’s expanding client stack

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Earlier this week, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/pumpdotfun-token-sale">Blockworks first reported</a> that pump.fun has plans to raise $1 billion at a $4 billion valuation via a token sale. 



The potential b-nut would add to a likely already sizable war chest for the memecoin launchpad, which has generated over $700 million in revenue since launching last year. Some have speculated that the fresh funds could go toward the rollout of a pump.fun blockchain, which would capture some of the trading fees that currently go to Solana.  



In this week’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzhd1yWI-XE&amp;t=2271s">Lightspeed podcast roundup</a>, Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz said launching a layer-1 without taking any other swings at growing pump’s business would do little else but increase the business’ take rate, which is another way of saying increase its profit margins. Mumtaz thinks this would be money poorly spent.



“​​Do you think that they would raise a billion dollars if what they cared about was increasing their margins from, let&#8217;s say, 80% to 85%?,” Mumtaz mused. “If I&#8217;m their VC, I&#8217;m going to say, ‘What the fuck are you doing? That&#8217;s extremely boring.’”



Rather, the Solana infrastructure CEO said, pump.fun’s fresh billion could de-risk new moonshot ideas to diversify the core business — which is lucrative but obviously quite captive to the whims of memecoin traders. (In fairness, a world does exist where pump.fun both develops new business lines and grows its margins on a new L1, but we’ll leave that aside for now).



That’s the big question for pump.fun: Can it find a second pitch? Pump could try to take the same path as Jupiter, which went on an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_AavGwooLs">acquisition spree</a>, adding a memecoin frontend, NFTs, lending and more after coming to dominate the Solana swap market.&nbsp;



“Historically, what you&#8217;ve seen in crypto M&amp;A is that it has kind of lacked discipline,” Blockworks Research head of research Ryan Connor said on this point. “Seeing what pump does purchase and if it&#8217;s synergistic to the business is going to be pretty critical.” Connor added that pump may have to deal with significant legal costs if it tries to expand its reach more globally.



If pump.fun tries to internally develop its next big idea, streaming may be the top contender. The platform brought back livestreaming earlier this year after facing <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/pumpdotfun-suspends-livestream-feature">content moderation issues</a> in an earlier version. It has tried to create something akin to Twitch with memecoins on this latest iteration, notably onboarding the anonymous trader gainzy, who has gone viral for irreverent rants in between pulls from a vape.&nbsp;



Whatever it looks like, my podcast guests seemed to think pump.fun’s next move would involve something more inspired than creating yet another L1.



“I think a much more attractive proposition is: ‘Look, we&#8217;re literally going to redefine how crypto and media interact, right? We&#8217;re going to look at the entertainment and social aspects of this business and really take big shots and go for the next 10 to 100x,’” Mumtaz said.



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Pump.fun may have loftier goals than building an L1

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We’re seemingly coming down to the wire for SEC approval of spot Solana ETFs, with the original seven prospective issuers filing amended S-1s in recent days and a newcomer (aka CoinShares) entering the race.&nbsp;



Notably, every filing included language around staking, which, as <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-etf-sec-forms">we previously reported</a>, the SEC asked issuers to include.



As the industry prepares for a third crypto asset to possibly get the SEC’s go-ahead on ETFs, here are the eight firms that have filed to issue Solana ETFs, in order of when they first filed:



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">VanEck</h2>



VanEck was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/vaneck-files-for-solana-etf">first to file</a> for a Solana ETF, almost a year ago this month. At the time, some likened the filing — despite the SEC’s insistence that Solana was a security — to a call option on a Trump victory in the November election.&nbsp;



That bet paid off, but it may be something of a pyrrhic victory if the SEC follows its precedent of approving bitcoin and ether ETFs all at once rather than in order of the issuers filing first.



To that end, VanEck has been <a href="https://x.com/vaneck_us/status/1931038867785744836">advocating</a> for the SEC to take a “first-to-file” approach, arguing it is better for innovation and competition.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/vaneck-begins-sol-staking">VanEck uses Kiln</a> to power Solana staking for its European ETP.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">21Shares</h2>



21Shares placed the Trump election call option shortly after VanEck did, and it also wants the SEC to follow a first-to-file approach.&nbsp;



Coinbase is listed as 21Shares’ staking provider in a base <a href="https://cdn.21shares.com/uploads/current-documents/products/prospectus/Base_Prospectus(EU).pdf">prospectus</a> filed in Europe. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHjEou1MMUs">Here’s a conversation</a> I had with the firm’s head of strategy Eliezer Ndinga on the topic of Solana ETFs last year.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Canary Capital</h2>



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/canary-capital-sol-etf-filing">Canary Capital filed</a> for a SOL ETF days before the election.



A smaller fund than some on this list, Canary Capital has made its name lately by filing for <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/canary-capital-litecoin-etf">altcoin ETFs</a>. It has filings out for ETFs including SUI, SEI, INJ, TRX, PENGU, HBAR, LTC and XRP.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Bitwise</h2>



Bitwise first filed for an ETF shortly after Trump’s election. In an <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitwise-ceo-solana-ncredible-emerging-asset">interview with me</a>, the firm’s CEO, Hunter Horsley, called Solana an “incredible emerging asset and story.”



Bitwise also <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitwise-launches-solana-staking-etp-europe">launched a solana staking ETP</a> in December with Marinade as the staking provider — which may bode well for Marinade should staking ETFs gain approval in the US.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Grayscale</h2>



Grayscale is looking to convert its SOL Trust into a spot ETF, similar to what it did with its bitcoin and ether trusts. The GSOL trust currently <a href="https://www.grayscale.com/funds/grayscale-solana-trust">trades</a> at a premium to its NAV, meaning investors are willing to pay more for the product than what the underlying SOL is worth.



Last month, the SEC<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-grayscale-solana-etf"> delayed a decision</a> on Grayscale’s ETF, saying it hadn’t “reached any conclusions” on the 19b-4 filing to list the proposed spot SOL ETF.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Franklin Templeton</h2>



Franklin Templeton offers bitcoin and ether ETFs, and it has filings out for SOL and XRP ETFs.&nbsp;



The $1.5 trillion <a href="https://investors.franklinresources.com/news-center/press-releases/press-release-details/2025/Franklin-Resources-Inc--Announces-Preliminary-Month-End-Assets-Under-Management-19be41576/default.aspx">fund</a> has a number of other crypto initiatives, and its Digital Assets Core SMA has a small <a href="https://www.franklintempleton.com/investments/options/separately-managed-accounts/products/COFDASCORE/NA/franklin-templeton-digital-assets-core-sma">allocation</a> to SOL. Its tokenized money market fund also <a href="https://solanafloor.com/news/solanas-rwa-scene-welcomes-franklin-templeton-fobxx">added</a> Solana support earlier this year.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Fidelity</h2>



Fidelity is the giant in the race so far. Its <a href="https://www.blockworks.com/analytics/bitcoin-etf/tracker">Bitcoin ETF</a> is second only to BlackRock in AUM, and its <a href="https://www.blockworks.com/analytics/ethereum-etf/tracker">Ethereum ETF</a> trails BlackRock and Grayscale’s converted trust.&nbsp;



Fidelity is a major provider of brokerage, trust and IRA accounts, and it could be a major driver of inflows to approved SOL ETFs.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CoinShares</h2>



CoinShares is the latest entrant in the Solana ETF race, throwing its hat in the ring at the same time that existing issuers were racing to submit amended S-1 forms.&nbsp;



The crypto-focused European asset manager has existing ETPs for BTC, ETH and a range of altcoins — Tezos ETP, anyone?



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ETFs

Here are the 8 firms vying to list Solana ETFs

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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This isn&#8217;t a promo piece. This is a totally normal weekly markets update that just so happens to include news of a <a href="https://blockworks.co/token-transparency">sweeping transparency initiative</a> that may reshape token due diligence forever, thanks to your friendly neighborhood content goblins at Blockworks.



Just so we&#8217;re all clear.



The week began with SOL in a minor rotation. We&#8217;re still off local highs, but prices <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/sol">remain</a> steady within the $140-$150 range. Bitcoin similarly <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">hodls</a> around $104k, reasonably unfazed by <a href="https://www.investors.com/news/strait-of-hormuz-oil-prices-iran-israel-conflict-stock-market/">geopolitical noise</a> out of the Strait of Hormuz.&nbsp;



Though, if we&#8217;re reading tea leaves, crypto will likely remain range-bound until there&#8217;s clearer direction from the Fed or a decisive break in macro volatility.



Kamino v2 is now three weeks old. According to <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/kamino-v2-a-new-growth-lever">a recent report</a> from Blockworks Research, it has pulled $230 million in new deposits, $90 million in fresh loans and turned looping PT-tokens into an institutional-grade yield strategy.



Jupiter volumes are cooling from memecoin fever highs but still <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/kamino-v2-a-new-growth-lever">dominate</a> Solana&#8217;s DEX flow. Margin markets are consolidating. Drift now commands ~$923 million in deposits and ~$230 million in borrows, with growing integration between perps and lending. MarginFi, sidelined by earlier exits, is stirring again.



Maple and Apollo markets are open for business, offering exposure to real-world private credit through syrupUSDC and sACRED. Multiply strategies remain <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/kamino-v2-a-new-growth-lever">dominant</a>, with SOL utilization north of 80% across major markets.



A problem that persists, though, is that when it comes to Solana&#8217;s most sophisticated DeFi strategies, so much of this activity remains difficult to track and trust. Underlying mechanics tend to be scattered across contracts, governance threads and backwater Discord channels.



Which brings us, in a very convincing segue, to Blockworks&#8217; new Token Transparency Framework.



Launching this week, the framework <a href="https://x.com/Blockworks_/status/1935321626788380714">introduces</a> an open-source standard for token project disclosures. It establishes 18 weighted criteria across four categories, including project purpose, revenue sources, equity-token relationship, token allocation and vesting schedules, related-party transactions, market-making agreements and more.



Each project is <a href="https://blockworks.co/token-transparency">scored out of 40</a> based on the completeness and materiality of its disclosures, with Blockworks acting as the first audit layer atop these self-reported filings.



Early adopters <a href="https://x.com/Blockworks_/status/1935321703154074041">include</a> Jito, Jupiter, Raydium, Morpho, Aerodrome and Stride, all of which have completed filings and received <a href="https://impressive-horses-5641a8b530.media.strapiapp.com/Jupiter_Token_Transparency_Framework_Q2_2025_6351fa32d7.pdf">published transparency scores</a>.&nbsp;



Transparency is a baseline for trust. As capital rotates between lending markets and perps platforms, protocols are leaning into increasingly complex primitives, from principal token loops and private credit vaults to structured auto-compounding strategies.



With macro still mostly in wait-and-see mode, eyes are back on core infrastructure: lending dynamics, staking derivatives and real volume durability. Expect protocols with clear risk frameworks and transparent capital flows to lead the next rotation.



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Blockworks Research

Macro volatility keeps Solana range-bound

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With pump.fun set to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/pumpdotfun-token-sale">reportedly raise</a> $1 billion via a token sale, it’s fair to assume the memecoin launchpad will at least be open to exploring acquisitions as a way of putting its fresh capital to work. Based on my own guesswork and a few conversations with industry watchers, here are four businesses I think could make sense for a pump.fun acquisition.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BullX</h2>



Many memecoin traders don’t actually trade through pump.fun’s frontend, opting for the sniping and copy trading features offered by trading bots — many of which run on Telegram.



These bots collect fees on trading volume, which can end up being quite lucrative. Blockworks Research <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/telegram-trading-bots">estimated</a> the gross annual revenue for Solana trading bots to have been between $500 million to $1 billion in 2024.&nbsp;



Pump.fun has, so far, been fine to coexist, but as the speculative trading game grows more crowded — and particularly with the entry of more put-together <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/axiom-ycombinator-startup-solana-memecoin-revenue-10m">competitors like Axiom</a> — pump will need to scheme out how it can win back some of those trading volumes.&nbsp;



BullX, a popular Solana Telegram bot that has drawn <a href="https://protos.com/solana-focused-bullx-still-exists-despite-allegations-it-called-it-quits/">allegations</a> of founder disinvolvement, could be a good takeover target.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">DEX Screener</h2>



On top of sniping, another category where pump.fun loses users is in token discovery. Rather than trying to find their next buy through pump’s somewhat limited and clunky interface, traders have historically turned to platforms like DEX Screener that come with more fine-tuned data and tracking features for traders.&nbsp;



A major way DEX Screener makes money is by charging memecoin projects for a more souped-up page on the platform, and DeFiLlama <a href="https://defillama.com/protocol/dex-screener?revenue=true&amp;groupBy=cumulative">counts</a> it as having made over $100 million in revenue over the past year and change.&nbsp;



Pump.fun has already launched an “advanced” tab that offers DEX Screener-like features, but if it finds DEX Screener users too sticky to win over, it could make sense to just combine the two. It wouldn’t be the first time one went after the other’s users: DEX Screener <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/moonshot-vertical-integration-memecoins">released a memecoin launchpad</a> called Moonshot that, well, hasn’t been much of a moonshot.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Titan</h2>



The majority of onchain Solana activity comes from memecoin trading and swaps between SOL and stablecoins, as Blockworks Research’s Carlos Gonzalez Campo has <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/solana-meta-aggregators">pointed out</a>. Pump.fun is doing pretty well on the memecoin side of things, but likely few users are swapping USDC for SOL on pump.fun’s AMM.&nbsp;



Much of that volume goes to Jupiter, a DEX aggregator that algorithmically finds the best route for trades to travel to achieve the best possible price. It’s a valuable product, and even if a swap aggregator collects minimal fees, it could be a loss leader to draw users who may then convert to customers of more revenue-generating products.&nbsp;



One candidate here could be Titan, a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/jupiter-competitor-private-mainnet">newer Solana DEX aggregator</a> that claims its swaps outperform Jupiter most of the time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cube Exchange</h2>



The best business in crypto is arguably still just running an exchange. If pump.fun had its own centralized exchange, it could access a lot more liquidity and likely diversify out from memecoins into other fields like perpetual futures, or even try to capture trading volume on new asset classes.



Pump.fun memes could also get expedited listings on the exchange, maintaining the platform’s edge against the likes of Coinbase and Binance, which are sometimes slower to list popular new memecoins. Pump could use the distribution from the exchange to drive interest in things like pump.fun livestreams.&nbsp;



Compared to some other targets, acquiring an exchange is an expensive proposition. Cube makes sense because its CEO is Solana-native, having previously worked at the foundation, and the exchange’s <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/">volume</a> doesn’t tend to run as high as some competitors. 



Backpack <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/backpack-ftx-eu-acquisition-complications/">acquired FTX EU</a> for $32.7 million earlier this year. Cube probably wouldn’t be that cheap, but pump is likely to have lots of cash.



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