Sam Bankman-Fried Sees Growing Institutional Interest in Solana

(Bloomberg) -- Solana, a challenger crypto network to Ethereum, is seeing more interest from institutional players, according to Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto derivatives exchange FTX. 

The SOL token, which is linked to the network, has more than quadrupled in the past month. Solana bills itself as the world’s fastest blockchain and its website says the average cost per transaction is $0.00025. 

Bankman-Fried is developing the Serum derivatives exchange on Solana’s network. He said interest in nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and decentralized finance, as well as the launch of the Pyth Network market-data feed has helped fuel the popularity of Solana.  

“There’s been a lot more interest institutionally,” Bankman-Fried said. Solana is “one of the only blockchains that has a compelling long-term road map” that will be eventually able to support industrial uses of crypto, he added.  

In June, Solana Labs, a developer of decentralized finance projects, raised $314.2 million from investors, including venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research. 

Other highlights from the interview: 

• On Coinbase Global Inc.’s row with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: “It’s frankly a little surprising that it played out the way it did,” he said. “Certainly that dynamic is always the one you want to avoid, where there’s acrimony between regulators and industry.”
• On the purchase of LedgerX: “I’m really excited about that and hope it’ll be big for our business and big for the ecosystem.”

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