Lily Liu, who serves as president of the
Solana
Foundation, has emphasized the blockchain’s growing momentum as a platform that prioritizes developers, with recent advancements drawing increased interest from both developers and institutions. Her comments come as Solana’s ecosystem experiences a notable uptick in activity, including the introduction of a new decentralized exchange (DEX) by co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, the rollout of a significant remittance wallet, and infrastructure enhancements designed to improve scalability.
Recognized for its rapid processing and minimal transaction costs, the Solana network is increasingly chosen as a foundation for decentralized finance (DeFi) and international payments. Liu’s support for
Zepz's new Solana-based wallet
— which was launched to streamline cross-border payments using
USDC
— highlights Solana’s expanding practical applications. “Zepz’s mission to deliver global transfers with unmatched speed, robust security, and broad affordability is uniquely achievable on Solana,” Liu commented. The wallet, available in over 100 countries, utilizes Solana’s quick finality to provide nearly instant settlements.
Solana’s technical progress has accelerated with the unveiling of
the SIMD-0266 upgrade
, which can cut token program resource consumption by as much as 98% compared to the existing SPL standard. Created by Anza, the team responsible for Solana’s node software, this upgrade introduces a more streamlined p-token framework, reducing computational expenses and freeing up block space for greater transaction throughput. This improvement is set to lower entry barriers for DeFi developers, making it possible to build sophisticated smart contracts and advanced apps without sacrificing efficiency.
The network’s growth is also being propelled by
Percolator
, a new DEX crafted by Yakovenko to compete with platforms such as Hyperliquid. Percolator’s sharded perpetual exchange system enables separate liquidity pools to function independently while maintaining atomic routing and portfolio netting. Labeled as “ready for implementation,” the project is currently in testing and may soon rival other Solana-based derivatives exchanges.
At the same time, institutional interest in Solana is on the rise. A treasury initiative supported by Cathie Wood has announced plans for substantial Solana token acquisitions and mergers, while Zepz’s collaboration with Circle to incorporate USDC has furthered stablecoin usage. These developments are consistent with broader patterns, as Solana’s active address count and DeFi participation recover from a recent decline.
The
Solana Accelerate APAC summit
, which kicked off in Beijing with partners such as Hashkey Labs, is designed to strengthen Solana’s footprint in Asia-Pacific. The series of events centers on crypto adoption, DePIN, and Web3 innovation, showcasing Solana’s ambition to expand beyond its traditional user base.
Although Solana has experienced short-term price swings, its core strengths remain intact. The SIMD-0266 upgrade, along with the Alpenglow consensus update planned for 2026, will enable the network to process over 100,000 transactions per second, addressing scalability issues and attracting enterprise-level applications. As Liu pointed out, Solana’s commitment to empowering builders continues to fuel progress, with projects like Zepz and Percolator demonstrating its capacity to transform global finance.
