Bitwise’s chief investment officer, Matt Hougan, believes Solana has what it takes to become Wall Street’s go-to blockchain for stablecoins and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, even though Ethereum still dominates the sector.

“Solana is the new Wall Street”

Speaking on Oct. 2 with Solana Labs’ Akshay Rajan, Hougan explained why traditional finance may lean toward Solana. While Bitcoin is often seen by Wall Street as “hard to wrap their heads around,” stablecoins and tokenization feel much more tangible.

He pointed out that major financial players are already saying stablecoins could reinvent payments, while tokenization could transform markets for stocks, bonds, commodities, and even real estate.

“When the ese institutions look at the blockchain space, Solana’s speed, throughput, and finality make it very attractive,” Hougan said. He highlighted Solana’s rapid improvements in settlement time, from 400 microseconds to 150 microseconds, which aligns with the way Wall Street traders prefer to operate.

Ethereum still holds the crown

Despite the optimism around Solana, Ethereum remains the undisputed leader in stablecoins. According to RWA.xyz, Ethereum currently hosts over $172.5 billion in stablecoin value, giving it a market share of around 59% — which rises to 65% when including layer-2s like Arbitrum, Base, and Polygon.

By comparison, Solana has around $13.9 billion in stablecoin supply, or 4.7% of the market. As Offchain Labs executive AJ Warner recently put it: “TVL isn’t everything, but the best place to launch new stablecoins is still within the EVM.”

Bitwise continues to back Solana

This isn’t the first time Bitwise has backed Solana as a strong competitor. At Token2049 in Singapore, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley argued that Solana could even gain an advantage over Ethereum in the staking ETF market.

His reasoning? Solana’s much shorter unstaking period. “ETFs need to return assets quickly, and Ethereum’s design makes that harder,” Horsley said.

Currently, Bitwise already offers a product called the Bitwise Physical Solana ETP, which directly holds SOL for investors. Interest has been limited so far, with about $30 million in assets under management.

Even so, Bitwise also has a spot Solana ETF proposal waiting for SEC approval, with a final decision expected by Oct. 16.

Question to consider

With Ethereum still holding the lion’s share of stablecoins, do you think Wall Street will truly shift toward Solana — or will it remain an Ethereum-first world for institutional investors?