Macro volatility keeps Solana range-bound

Rate cuts drift into Q4 limbo as markets pretend everything’s fine

article-image

Pits vec/Shutterstock and Adobe modified by Blockworks

share

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


This isn’t a promo piece. This is a totally normal weekly markets update that just so happens to include news of a sweeping transparency initiative that may reshape token due diligence forever, thanks to your friendly neighborhood content goblins at Blockworks.

Just so we’re all clear.

The week began with SOL in a minor rotation. We’re still off local highs, but prices remain steady within the $140-$150 range. Bitcoin similarly hodls around $104k, reasonably unfazed by geopolitical noise out of the Strait of Hormuz. 

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

Kamino v2 is now three weeks old. According to a recent report 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 dominate Solana’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 dominant, with SOL utilization north of 80% across major markets.

A problem that persists, though, is that when it comes to Solana’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’ new Token Transparency Framework.

Launching this week, the framework introduces 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 scored out of 40 based on the completeness and materiality of its disclosures, with Blockworks acting as the first audit layer atop these self-reported filings.

Early adopters include Jito, Jupiter, Raydium, Morpho, Aerodrome and Stride, all of which have completed filings and received published transparency scores

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.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Built on Solana, Loopscale is an orderbook-based lending protocol that pairs the efficiency of direct market matching with the flexibility and UX of modular protocols. We believe Loopscale can help scale NNAs in Solana DeFi and act as their foundational credit layer. Stablecoin deposits and select USD-pegged Loops on Loopscale are offering competitive yields, with an additional upside from farming the protocol and adjacent ecosystem projects (e.g., OnRe, Hylo) for potential future airdrops.

article-image

A recent mistrial illustrates how juries need more background information when it comes to judging complex systems like Ethereum

article-image

The Senate advanced a bipartisan funding package aimed at ending the shutdown, and bitcoin rose from its $100K bottom

article-image

The team is betting that a 20-minute hardware trust window beats a new alt-L1

article-image

To learn how to navigate the physical world, robots need visual data

article-image

Risks and illiquidity come to surface in the wake of a red October

article-image

Advice from Neal Stephenson, Kyle Broflovski, and Crypto Mom on building in crypto