Solana and the Institutional Pivot: Bitwise CIO Lays Out Vision

Solana is gaining renewed attention among institutional investors, according to Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of crypto asset manager Bitwise. Hougan recently told Solana Labs that Solana has the potential to become “the new Wall Street” among blockchain networks. He emphasized that to traditional financial audiences, Bitcoin feels “very ephemeral” and difficult to conceptualize in institutional investment frameworks. Instead, he said, these investors are watching stablecoins and tokenization more closely: “Really important people are saying that stablecoins will reinvent payments and tokenization will reinvent stock, bond, commodity, and real estate markets.” When evaluating blockchain platforms, Hougan said institutions gravitate toward efficiency, low latency, and transaction finality. In that context, he pointed to improvements in Solana’s settlement speed—from 400 microseconds to 150 microseconds —as an attribute that interfaces well with how institutional players like to trade. Solana’s Place in the Stablecoin Landscape Despite Solana’s growing traction, it remains small in comparison to Ethereum in the stablecoin space. On Solana, on-chain stablecoin value totals about $13.9 billion , giving it 4.7% market share as measured by RWA.xyz. Ethereum, by contrast, holds a dominant position: ~$172.5 billion in stablecoin value, or ~59%, which rises to 65% when layer-2s are included (e.g. Arbitrum, Base, Polygon). AJ Warner, Chief Strategy Officer at Offchain Labs, contrasted the two platforms, asserting: “TVL is definitely not everything, but I don’t think you can doubt where the best place to launch new stablecoins is. Build within the EVM.” This underscores that many in the industry still see Ethereum’s ecosystem and compatibility as a strong moat. Bitwise’s Long Bet on Solana Bitwise has been publicly bullish on Solana before. At Token2049 in Singapore, its CEO Hunter Horsley argued that Solana may outshine Ethereum in the staking ETF arena. His argument hinged on Solana’s faster unstaking period , which is important for funds that must be able to redeem assets swiftly. Bitwise currently offers a Physical Solana ETP , allowing investors exposure to SOL via fully backed assets in institutional custody. However, this product remains modest in size, with approximately $30 million in assets under management. A more ambitious move is Bitwise’s application for a spot Solana ETF , with regulatory approval expected (or decided) around October 16. At the time of Hougan’s remarks, SOL was trading around $227 , down 2% on the day and more than 22% below its January high. Betting on the Future of Tokenization Hougan’s thesis frames Solana not merely as a blockchain, but as a platform poised for adoption by Wall Street players. Stablecoins and tokenization represent an entry point for institutional flows. If a network offers low friction, high throughput, and reliable finality, it could become a preferred infrastructure for tokenizing real-world assets. Whether Solana can climb further against Ethereum’s entrenched position remains a question—yet Bitwise is clearly positioning itself for that possibility.