Opening a New Era of Blockchain Finance: Introduction Presented by the Founder of Solana Company

With the easing of regulations under the Trump administration in 2025 and the entry of institutional players from Wall Street, blockchain finance has reached a true turning point. It is now recognized not merely as a realm of speculation but as the future of global financial infrastructure. Juany Wei, founder of Solana Company, has observed this shift from the boundary between traditional finance and the cryptocurrency world, and he presents the development trajectory and future opportunities of blockchain finance.

Why Now for Innovation in Financial Infrastructure?

Over the past 20 years, the internet has revolutionized the consumer sector. E-commerce, social media, online payments—all emerged alongside internet development and changed the world. However, the financial industry itself has failed to keep pace with this wave of innovation.

Today, some European exchanges still maintain settlement cycles of T+6 or T+7, and IPO settlements in Hong Kong have only recently been shortened to T+2 or T+3. Core financial systems—settlement, clearing, back-office operations—have not been updated for over a decade. The fact that handwritten checks are still used in advanced financial regions like Switzerland and Hong Kong illustrates this stagnation.

The reasons for this stagnation are multifaceted. Negotiations with regulators are essential, resistance from entrenched interests is strong, and inertia favors maintaining the status quo. Existing financial institutions like exchanges are reluctant to change, fearing new technologies might threaten their monopolistic positions.

What does an ideal future for financial markets look like? It’s a market open 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. A world where all assets and liquidity flow freely across borders, industries, and products. In this future, many transactions occur directly peer-to-peer without intermediaries. Blockchain technology provides the infrastructure to realize this future.

From Bitcoin to Stablecoins: The Evolution of Blockchain Finance

Blockchain finance began with the Bitcoin white paper in 2008 but initially received little attention. At that time, no bankers predicted it would become the future of finance. It wasn’t until around 2011 to 2013 that people started to see it as a technology.

Interestingly, major companies like Grayscale and Coinbase were founded during this period. They have been on a long journey from the early days of the industry to today. Between 2014 and 2016, traditional financial institutions began recognizing the potential value of blockchain technology.

2017 marked an explosive growth phase for blockchain finance. Speculators and gamblers flooded in, and numerous exchanges sprang up. At that time, just two exchanges accounted for 80% of Bitcoin trading volume, indicating high market concentration. Switzerland’s Zug became known as “Crypto Valley,” attracting many blockchain startups.

However, from 2018 to 2020, the focus shifted to infrastructure building. Entrepreneurs with genuine business visions started creating real businesses. Companies like Bitwise were established, and traditional financial firms like Fidelity and CME Group entered the space. In 2020 and 2021, even more Bitcoin-related companies were founded, expanding the ecosystem.

The emergence of stablecoins was a game-changer. Previously, converting crypto assets into fiat currency could take up to nine months—a nightmare process. As stablecoins like USDT and USDC became established as payment methods, the market rapidly exploded.

Inevitably, prosperity was followed by decline. Between 2022 and 2023, major scams like LUNA and FTX occurred. In an industry lacking regulation, pyramid schemes are inevitable, and their collapse was a historical necessity. Many believed the blockchain industry was over.

But, as with all emerging industries, the law of cycles applies. If technology can solve real problems, it will revive. Currently, blockchain finance is experiencing a strong comeback, becoming more resilient. The total market cap of global blockchain finance is around $3 to $4 trillion, with total value locked (TVL) approximately $120 billion.

DAT and RWA: Bridging Traditional Assets and Crypto

The biggest challenge facing blockchain finance today is attracting massive amounts of traditional financial capital. With global financial assets totaling around $900 trillion to $1,000 trillion, the $3 trillion in blockchain is still a small fraction. For the industry to grow, capital from public equity markets—roughly $120 trillion to $150 trillion—is essential.

Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) is one of the main pathways to address this. DAT is a publicly listed company established to hold digital currency assets. Investors in stock markets can indirectly hold digital assets through DAT instead of directly trading cryptocurrencies.

Currently, there are about 80 pure DAT companies, and over 200 if including all listed companies holding digital assets. The recent fundraising by these companies totals around $20 billion. MicroStrategy is a notable example, having raised funds to purchase Bitcoin, effectively becoming the first large-scale treasury in the crypto ecosystem. Interestingly, MicroStrategy’s returns have outperformed Bitcoin itself by more than threefold over the same period.

The effectiveness of the DAT model lies in several factors. First, it reduces operational risks for fund managers by avoiding direct management of large sums of cash and transfers. Second, it circumvents regulatory constraints—some regions prohibit small investors from directly purchasing crypto, but they can invest indirectly via listed companies like DAT. Third, while not all funds have access to crypto-related ETFs, they can invest in the stocks of listed companies.

The business logic of DAT is straightforward: raise low-cost capital (via convertible bonds, options sales, etc.), purchase digital currencies, and issue shares at high prices when market sentiment is bullish to keep increasing assets. Unlike Bitcoin, digital currencies on blockchains like Solana can generate interest income, providing additional revenue opportunities.

Real World Asset (RWA) digitization is still in its early stages compared to DAT. RWA involves digitizing traditional assets to increase liquidity on the blockchain. In the emerging blockchain finance industry, assets can earn high risk-free returns. Personal credit-based RWA is growing fastest, and safe assets like U.S. Treasuries-based RWA are also performing well.

RWA is technically ready and operationally feasible. The key challenges are regulation and liquidity. Selecting suitable assets from different stages of their lifecycle, digitizing them, and ensuring liquidity are crucial. If assets are classified as securities in the U.S., compliance requirements increase. Standardized, highly liquid products will be tokenized first, followed by larger assets.

Future Outlook: An Era Similar to China’s WTO Entry

Today’s blockchain finance can be compared to China’s economy in the early 2000s. Western investors knew China’s economy was rapidly growing but lacked accurate, timely information. Reliable third-party data providers and Big Four audits were scarce. Few companies had Moody’s or S&P ratings. Investors mainly invested in the largest firms like China National Petroleum, China Telecom, and China Mobile.

The current blockchain world is exactly the same. Many companies, big and small, exist with good applications, but they are largely unknown outside the industry, and information asymmetry is significant. Therefore, Wall Street and mainstream capital can only initially invest in major firms like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.

However, this information gap will quickly close. In the coming months, institutional investors will discover many specialized companies worth investing in. Currently, global financial institutions and investors are actively entering the blockchain industry. The passage of the U.S. “Digital Asset Market Structure Act” is expected to attract more traditional financial firms.

Blockchain technology has often been misunderstood. JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon once made critical remarks, but they soon became one of the fastest adopters of blockchain on Wall Street. Similarly, UBS’s former chairman, Alex Weber, initially criticized, but now the traditional finance sector recognizes the inevitability of this technology.

Compared to AI, the core value of blockchain may seem less attractive. But fundamentally, blockchain is the infrastructure of future financial markets. The support policies of the Trump administration in 2025 signify that this technology has finally gained legitimacy in the U.S. and is recognized by Wall Street. The adoption and dissemination of the technology are accelerating rapidly. U.S. investment banks and mainstream financial institutions are deploying blockchain at full speed, tokenizing assets and products.

The development of blockchain finance has now moved beyond its infancy. It has the potential to grow from $3 trillion to $10 trillion, and eventually to $100 trillion. DAT and RWA are the two core models driving this growth, and after 2025, they will be central to financial innovation. The future journey will be very exciting, and we are at the beginning of this new era.