Each month, we’re bringing you a breakdown of startups’ journeys building on Solana, as well as noteworthy blockchain and ecosystem updates.
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Todd McDonald, co-Founder of R3: Bank-grade markets on Solana
This episode is part of the Solana Sessions podcast series by Token Relations and the Talking Tokens podcast, where we dive into the startups and founders building on Solana. Check out the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
In this episode of Solana Sessions, we sat down with Todd McDonald, co-founder of enterprise blockchain company R3, to discuss how financial institutions went from experimenting with blockchains to building on them.
R3 is rebuilding Corda for open networks
Backed by Bank of America, HSBC, Wells Fargo and Barclays, R3 builds Corda, a blockchain for banks that’s used by Euroclear, SIX, and the Italian banking system.
R3 initially built software that let institutions run their own private networks. But the company eventually moved to Solana after recognizing that banks wanted to do more than cut operational costs, and start originating new products they could distribute to stablecoin treasuries, neobanks and other new pools of capital. “This is about making money, not saving money,” McDonald said. “The biggest lesson for me is how do you help bring your customers to new customers.”
Solana’s focus on internet capital markets and the culture of its ecosystem also played a part in helping R3 decide to build on the network. “One of the things that you really need in this space is long-term alignment with the partners that you choose,” McDonald said.
On Solana, R3 plans to focus on tokenization to help investors holding stablecoins invest without moving their money off the blockchain. “If you think of blockchain networks, they have wealth on their networks. They’re effectively like their own countries, their own islands,” McDonald said. “Bring the assets to the money, because in a weird way, money is sort of lazy.”
Looking ahead, McDonald expects fixed income and alternative assets to become major markets for tokenization. He also thinks the line between onchain and traditional finance will eventually disappear.
“I firmly believe that all markets will become onchain markets,” he said. “It’s kind of like back in the day, saying all banking would become online banking. Today that’s just banking.”
Solana’s biggest updates in October
Look into the biggest announcements, developments and more happening within the Solana ecosystem.
Samsung Wallet and Samsung Pay are adding support for stablecoins on Solana, letting U.S. users send USDC across borders.
Users will get on- and off-ramps that convert stablecoins to and from their local currency
Solana Foundation has launched Solana DvP, an open-source program that lets financial institutions settle trades on its network by moving the asset and the cash at the same time.
The program replaces the custom smart contracts institutions have typically relied on.
Transactions are settled in seconds compared to the one or two days trades take in traditional markets.
2WA brought USDGO Plus SP onto Solana.
The fund is built on the USDGO stablecoin, which earns returns from differences in funding rates across crypto derivatives.
Securitize has launched Securitize Stocks on Solana, offering tokenized versions of 12 U.S. stocks, including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla and Circle.
Each token is backed by an actual share, giving holders the dividends and, where applicable, voting rights afforded by the shares.
Solana Mobile partnered with Ledger to pre-install its Seeker app on Ledger Atom, a phone-like security device.
Seeker combines the Solana dApp Store and a wallet.
Ledger Atom users will be able to access the more than 1,500 apps on the Solana dApp Store and approve transactions through Ledger’s hardware.
That’s all for now. Catch you again next month!
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This information is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research.