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At the Consensus Hong Kong 2026 conference, a clear strategic vision for the Solana blockchain was articulated by Solana Foundation President Lily Liu. The platform is deliberately narrowing its focus, aiming to become the foundational infrastructure for the world’s future tokenized capital markets rather than a universal computing platform.
In discussions with Consensus Chairman Michael Lau, Liu emphasized that Solana’s core strength lies squarely within finance and markets. This represents a significant strategic delineation. The vision centers on creating “Internet Capital Markets”—a unified, global infrastructure where real-world assets can be tokenized on-chain. The ultimate objective is to establish a worldwide marketplace for capital formation that is accessible to all.
Liu traced the evolution from the early ICO boom to today’s more sophisticated fundraising mechanisms. She argued that this developing infrastructure should eventually empower companies globally to raise capital, not just cryptocurrency-native projects. A key tenet of this vision is the democratization of both talent and access to capital, a societal contribution Liu believes traditional financial markets often fail to deliver.
Contrary to being labeled an emerging frontier for crypto, Liu positioned Asia as the industry’s core market. This perspective is rooted in the region’s historical connection to Bitcoin’s origins and its current status as home to a vast base of users and developers. This strategic view is already materializing in tangible developments.
Reflecting this focus, Ondo Finance recently introduced over 200 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs onto the Solana network. This move through its Global Markets platform establishes Ondo as the largest issuer of real-world assets (RWAs) on Solana by the number of distinct assets.
Liu advocated for a fundamental shift in how the success of blockchain networks is measured. She proposed moving the emphasis away from the valuation of governance tokens and toward revenue-based metrics. Sustainable value, in her view, must stem from genuine network and application utility, not from speculative trading.
This stance mirrors a broader industry trend pivoting away from speculative tokenomics and toward models grounded in actual use and value creation.
Supporting this strategic direction are two major technical upgrades in development. The Alpenglow consensus protocol aims to drastically reduce transaction finality times from the current 12-13 seconds to between 100 and 150 milliseconds.
Furthermore, the full release of the Firedancer validator client is scheduled for later in 2026. Test results have demonstrated processing capabilities of up to one million transactions per second—performance figures that could meet the stringent demands of institutional finance.
The coming months will reveal whether this focused strategy on institutional financial applications translates into measurable ecosystem growth. With recent RWA integrations and the forthcoming technical enhancements, Solana is actively laying the groundwork to make its finance-first vision a reality.
The Ethereum Foundation has initiated a coordinated effort to fundamentally reengineer the network’s base layer validation process. This marks the start of a significant technical transformation aimed at enhancing efficiency without compromising its decentralized principles.
At the heart of this initiative is EIP-8025, a formal proposal currently residing in a feature branch of the consensus specifications. Its core innovation introduces the concept of “Optional Execution Proofs.” This would allow network validators to verify blocks using cryptographic proofs instead of the current method, which requires the independent re-execution of every transaction within a block.
The existing system, while robust, creates escalating challenges as network activity grows. Higher transaction volumes demand greater computational power, storage, and bandwidth, thereby raising the hardware barriers for participation. The proposed overhaul seeks to invert this dynamic.
The new approach centers on Zero-Knowledge Proofs. A validator would no longer need to redundantly perform complex calculations but would instead verify a cryptographic proof confirming the block’s execution was correct. According to the associated L1-zkEVM Roadmap 2026, the verification time for these proofs could remain roughly constant, regardless of a block’s complexity. This potential for scalable verification is the key attraction.
The development roadmap organizes the work into six distinct areas:
– Infrastructure for proof generation
– Consensus layer integration
– Standardization for execution witnesses and guest programs
– Application programming interfaces for zkVM guests
– Tools for performance benchmarking
– Formal verification of security
A critical design feature is that the system remains optional. Validators can continue operating under the traditional rules if they choose, while others may adopt proof-based verification. This flexibility is a strategic component, intended to lower hardware requirements and make running a validator on standard consumer-grade equipment a more viable prospect once again.
This technical shift coincides with a broader strategic discussion within the ecosystem. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently suggested that Layer-2 scaling projects might need to explore alternative pathways if Layer 1 assumes more direct responsibility for scalability.
This foundational development launches amid notable market volatility, with ETH having declined approximately 37.5% over the preceding 30 days. Meanwhile, other significant projects are advancing within the ecosystem. These include Robinhood’s testing of a proprietary blockchain based on Arbitrum technology and the mainnet launch of MegaETH as a new Layer-2 solution.
In a related move, the Ethereum Foundation awarded a grant to Certora for verification work on the zkEVM project, specifically to audit the automated precompilation technology developed by Powdr Labs.
The inaugural “L1-zkEVM Breakout Call” hosted by the Ethereum Foundation serves as the starting point for this coordinated implementation. The coming phases of development will determine whether proof-based validation becomes a central pillar of Ethereum’s next evolutionary stage or remains a powerful, optional tool within its architecture.
A major conference in Hong Kong has underscored Solana’s strategic push into Asian markets and its growing appeal to traditional finance. The Solana Accelerate APAC flagship event, hosted at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, drew more than 2,000 attendees from finance, regulation, and the crypto sector, with discussions centered on real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and bridging to conventional finance.
Analysts point to Solana’s infrastructure as a key driver for its institutional use case. Geoffrey Kendrick, an analyst at Standard Chartered, identifies the network’s role in stablecoin-based payments as a critical growth factor. Transaction volume for stablecoins on Solana now significantly surpasses that on Ethereum, indicating high-frequency use facilitated by low costs.
With average gas fees remaining below one cent, the blockchain is positioned for micro-payments and applications that are not economically viable on more expensive networks. This cost structure could provide Solana with a structural advantage in competing for institutional payment solutions. Further insight into institutional demand will come on February 21, with the release of Grayscale’s next quarterly figures detailing interest in its Solana products.
Timed with the conference, a significant partnership was announced. South Korea’s DB Securities, a major financial institution, has entered a strategic agreement with the Solana Foundation. The collaboration aims to build an ecosystem for Security Token Offerings (STOs) on the Solana blockchain.
According to the Seoul Economic Daily, the joint effort will focus on three primary areas: sourcing suitable assets for tokenization, financial structuring, and the technical integration of existing securities systems with Solana’s infrastructure. Joosik Lee, head of the STO and digital asset business at DB Securities, presented details of the planned business model at the Hong Kong event.
The ecosystem for tokenized assets on Solana is expanding rapidly. Ondo Finance enhanced its presence on January 21, 2026, by launching its Global Markets platform on the network, offering access to over 200 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs.
This move established Ondo Finance as the largest issuer of RWAs on Solana by number of assets, according to the company. The platform now represents approximately 65% of all tokenized real-world assets on the network. Through the Jupiter trading platform, investors can gain exposure to technology stocks, blue-chip equities, and commodity-linked products.
Across its entire operation, Ondo Finance currently manages more than $2.5 billion in tokenized treasury and equity products. Since its initial launch in September 2025, the Global Markets division has generated a cumulative trading volume exceeding $7 billion across all supported blockchains.
The Cardano network finds itself at a critical juncture this Wednesday, caught between demonstrable technological progress and a punishing market reality. Despite a series of core upgrades, its native token ADA has plummeted to $0.2640, representing an 80% decline from its December 2024 highs. This price level now forms a vital support zone; a sustained break below it could cement a negative medium-term trend for the cryptocurrency.
A recent milestone that was expected to catalyze institutional investment has instead backfired. The launch of ADA futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), typically viewed as a sign of asset maturity, triggered no sustained buying. Market participants executed a classic “sell-the-news” reaction, pushing the price down by three percent in the aftermath.
The broader institutional landscape further highlights Cardano’s challenges. While Goldman Sachs holds crypto assets worth $2.36 billion, its positions are concentrated in Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana. This selective allocation underscores the intense competition for large-scale investment, where Cardano appears to be losing ground.
On-chain metrics paint a concerning picture of investor behavior. Since last Friday, large-scale holders, often called “whales,” have been net sellers, offloading between 170 million and 180 million ADA tokens. This substantial exodus has flooded the market with supply, effectively stifling any nascent recovery attempts.
Sentiment among remaining holders is severely strained. Data shows only 8% of all circulating coins are currently held at a profit, a sharp drop from 33% in January. Although the Relative Strength Index (RSI) reading of 28 indicates an oversold condition, the threat of a further capitulation event looms unless the $0.26 support level is firmly defended.
This selling occurs against a backdrop of continued ecosystem development, creating a stark divergence. A recent mainnet upgrade successfully increased network synchronization speed by 30%, a move designed to lower barriers for node operators and boost overall throughput.
Concurrently, development is advancing on “Midnight,” a privacy-focused sidechain slated for integration into the Cardano infrastructure. These fundamental improvements, however, have so far failed to stimulate market demand, leaving investors to grapple with a paradox: why is the asset bleeding value while its underlying technology grows more robust?
Cardano Accelerates Network Push: LayerZero Ties and Midnight Mainnet On Track
Cardano is currently drawing more attention for its ecosystem developments than for its price action. After key announcements at Consensus in Hong Kong, ADA’s price remains around $0.26, with a brief 24-hour consolidation of roughly 2–3% in either direction amid a choppy market. The question remains: how quickly will solid fundamentals translate into a price move?
LayerZero: Bridging Cardano to 150+ Chains
During Consensus Hong Kong, Charles Hoskinson and Input Output Global (IOHK) confirmed the formal integration with LayerZero, an omnichain protocol designed to enable interoperability. The move would break Cardano’s former siloed stance by establishing connections to more than 150 other blockchains, with examples including Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche.
The initiative targets seamless cross-chain messaging and asset transfers. The official notes suggest Cardano would gain access to a landscape of more than 400 tokens and billions in liquidity as a result.
A central piece of this strategy is the planned rollout of USDCx, a LayerZero-wue version of the USDC stablecoin, directly on Cardano. This addresses a long-discussed liquidity gap in DeFi, and the rollout is described as an immediate deployment.
Midnight: Mainnet by End-March 2026
Alongside interoperability, the roadmap for Midnight—a privacy-focused partner-sidechain—has been clarified. The team affirmed that the Midnight mainnet should be live by the end of March 2026.
Midnight emphasizes “rational privacy,” employing Zero-Knowledge cryptography (ZK) to reveal data selectively, for instance to satisfy regulatory requirements. The announcement sparked interest in the NIGHT token, which subsequently rose by about 6–7%.
Derivatives: Massive Volume Amid Slipping Open Interest
While foundational news is constructive, the derivatives market presents mixed signals. BitMEX reported a sharp surge in ADA futures activity:
The combination is interpreted as indicating more unwind activity and rapid repositioning rather than the building of new long-term bets.
Institutional context also received a notable development: CME Group launched ADA futures on Monday, providing a regulated venue for institutions to hedge or speculate on ADA.
In summary, Cardano is pursuing interoperability (LayerZero) while advancing specialization (Midnight). The coming milestone is Midnight Mainnet by the end of March 2026, with CME futures already trading. The derivatives data presently lean toward risk reduction rather than aggressive new directional positioning.