Sanctum acquires Ironforge, plots transaction infrastructure vertical

The all-cash deal will push Sanctum beyond liquid staking tokens

article-image

Vik Y/Shutterstock and Adobe modified by Blockworks

share

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


The Solana liquid-staking startup Sanctum has acquired Ironforge in an all-cash deal, Lightspeed has learned exclusively. 

Sanctum did not disclose the deal terms. Ironforge’s team, founded by Italo Casas, will join Sanctum, according to a blog post.

Ironforge builds Solana infrastructure, including for landing transactions on the network. With the acquisition, Sanctum plans to add transaction infrastructure as a business vertical.

Sanctum emerged in mid-2024 as a buzzy new Solana startup after going through Solana’s startup incubator. Until now, the project has focused on liquid staking tokens, which are tokenized representations of staked SOL. Its flagship product is INF, a liquid staking token that holds a basket of Solana LSTs. 

After a much-talked-about points program gave way to a somewhat-controversial airdrop, Sanctum has added a couple new business lines. One was creator coins, LSTs which share rewards with creators. Another was what are essentially white-label LSTs, starting with Binance, Bitget and Bybit. 

It was while working with these partners that Sanctum realized how difficult it can be to land transactions on Solana. The onchain pain became particularly acute during Donald Trump’s memecoin launch, which left Solana very congested. 

“Solving that problem meant either building a solution from scratch ourselves or teaming up with the best developers already working in that niche,” Sanctum said in a blog post, adding: “Ironforge was that team.”

And so, Sanctum has struck out on a non-LST business vertical for the first time.

“[There are] a profusion of transaction landing solutions on Solana and no good way to observe and adjudicate their performance. [We] aggregate and make observability a first class citizen giving developers full control and observability,” Sanctum co-founder FP Lee said.

Ironforge did not immediately return a request for comment.


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.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

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

Unlocked by Template.png

Research

The march toward an interoperable and onchain-by-default internet depends on reliable messaging and value transfer across heterogeneous domains. Crosschain protocols now process >$1.3T in combined annual transfer volume and secure tens of millions of user interactions, yet no single design dominates.

article-image

The €7 million investment marks Luxembourg’s first sovereign exposure to Bitcoin

by Blockworks /
article-image

The chain-agnostic app layer aims to reward players of any game, in any token

article-image

The exchange will now offer direct access to CME futures across commodities, equities, and currencies through its US platform

by Blockworks /
article-image

The exchange’s full approval from the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority marks a regulatory milestone for global crypto oversight

by Blockworks /
article-image

Founded by Coinbase and Cruise veterans, CipherOwl plans to bring artificial intelligence to blockchain monitoring and risk detection

by Blockworks /
article-image

As the shutdown enters its second week, sources say the Senate Banking Committee looks to move ahead with a market structure bill markup