Welcome to FinTech TV.
I'm Remy Blaire.
Auto finance has expanded its on the global markets platform to the salon of blockchain, bringing more than 200 tokenized US stocks and ETFs to the network.
Now these tokenized securities are designed to maintain price parity with traditional markets while operating on public ledger infrastructure.
Well joining me live at the on the summit 2026 in New York City is Nick Ducoff, head of institutional growth at Salon.
Foundation.
Nick, great to have you back on FinTech.
Thanks so much for having me.
Well, thanks for joining me.
So we're here at Ono Summit 2026, and a lot has changed since last year.
So tell us what's happening when it comes to Solana.
Yeah, well, so Solana has had a great year on virtually every metric.
In 2025, we had $3 trillion in dex volume, $1 trillion in stablecoin volume.
We now have $1.3 billion in RWATBL, and just yesterday we hit a new all-time high.
In terms of daily transactions on the network of 150 million transactions on Solana just yesterday.
And as you mentioned, Ando Broad, uh, there are 200, uh, tokenized equities on Solana just this, this, uh, past month in January.
And it was very exciting.
You all had me, um, on your set on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, the day of the Bitco IPO.
And what was so cool about that was the day that Bitco went public on the New York Stock Exchange, you could buy the tokenized version on Solana.
Um, via Ando Global markets, so that was really exciting.
Yeah, and you just mentioned that IPO that took place at the New York Stock Exchange, and a lot of people were talking about that.
But of course tokenization is a big theme as we head into 2026.
So what do you expect in terms of innovation and product, not just in the US but also overseas?
Yeah, well, I'm so glad you asked about that because I think the story is a global story.
Um, the whole vision of Salon is this idea of internet capital markets, bringing all global investors together to buy any asset on Earth on the same liquidity venue.
And when you think about that, it really opens up, um, global investors.
So in the 2010s, you had fintech companies like Chime and Revolut, um, providing financial services to the global unbanked.
And I think what Solana does is it provides assets to the global unbrokeraged.
And so for example, in Pakistan, there are only 300,000 people with brokerage accounts, but 40 million with a crypto wallet.
Here in the United States, for people under 30, there's more people with a crypto wallet than have a brokerage account.
And so when you're thinking about something like the Bitco IPO, for example, if you want to give global investors access to that product, they're actually not going to get it on the New York Stock Exchange.
They're going to come and they're going to get it on Solana.
And we're here at the Ono summit.
So of course there are a lot of stakeholders, a lot of people in the ecosystem that are attending.
We have Tradfi, we have DeFi, we have policymakers, as well as media here.
So give us your take on some of the conversations unfolding and what you make of some of the announcements.
It's unbelievable the group that Ando has pulled together today.
I mean, I've seen partners of ours from JPMorgan.
Black Rock, State Street, Wisdom Tree, Invesco, and on and on and on, and I'm, I'm sure I'm missing many.
They really have a who's who of, of Tradfi here along with some of the more Defi native folks like the Solana Foundation, and I think that's the really cool thing about Ando is, is they're great at, at, at bringing Tradfi and um blockchain together.
And when it comes to the future of finance, you and I have had conversations at many events throughout the years, but what do you really expect to see unfold as we move forward, and what does it mean for not just institutions, but of course retail investors?
That's a great question.
So I, I think it's important to realize that um the effort that is underway by these financial institutions is no longer like sandbox proof of concept, but they're building real fundamental technology on chain, and they plan to distribute globally.
And so that is really the most exciting thing to me is that we've kind of moved past this, uh, bright shiny object phase of, of, of blockchain into the durable institutional rails phase.
And so I really think this year you'll continue to see more of everything, more assets on chain, more trading volume. stablecoins, um, and ultimately more users, and that's the thing that I think really makes Solana stand apart.
With 80 to 100 million monthly active users on the blockchain, it really creates a platform for these asset managers to distribute their products, you know, to a global investor audience and While 80 to 100 million may sound like a lot, it's just 1% of the population, and so we still have 99, 99% to go.
Um, so we're just, uh, made a little progress.
We've got a lot more, uh, wood to chop, but very excited for what's to come.
Yeah, I like that analogy there.
And of course when you break it down in terms of the numbers, it is all about perspective, isn't it?
So I do want to round out this conversation by talking.
About liquidity as well as cost because you and I, we've talked at the New York Stock Exchange and we know that American exchanges are also getting into the tokenization game as well.
So what does that mean in terms of impact for costs as well as liquidity?
Well, I think it's really exciting that you've got NASDAQ, New York Stock Exchange, and DTCC all saying that they're coming onto the blockchain.
They're going to tokenize everything.
Um, that's really exciting, and I certainly think a rising tide lifts all boats.
I think there are different, um, institutions taking different approaches to how they plan to go about it, you know, some are doing, um, private chains, some are doing public chains, some are doing hybrid, um, you know, some are, are making their assets freely transferable, others are making it fully permission.
I, I, I don't know that there's a one size fits all approach.
The SEC did just this past week, building on Hester Purse's, um, uh, note that she wrote earlier last year, enchanted but not magical.
Just tokenizing a security doesn't make it a non-security, but I would say the inverse is true too.
Just because something's a token, doesn't mean it is a security.
And so, I, I think we'll see a lot of different approaches tried.
Um, Ando, of course, has a great one.
Kraken bought X-stocks, uh, this past year.
Um, you've got a number of others, including the major exchanges in DTC that will be tokenizing the, um, issuer's assets superstate, uh, and their opening bell, uh, project that has tokenized Ford Industries, Galaxy, you know, um, uh, Exodus, uh, and, and, and others.
Um, so I, I, I think it's really exciting to see the innovation and The one thing I'm sure of is that everything will be tokenized, and one burning question that I have for you since you mentioned politics, of course we're watching the regulatory landscape.
What do you expect to see this year?
Um, I'm hopeful.
That we'll see the Clarity Act.
Um, obviously, last year's watershed moment was the Genius Act being passed.
Um, the current administration has, has made it much more, um, uh, easy for financial institutions like those here at the Ando Summit to build on the blockchain.
And I think the Clarity Act will, will provide another big unlock, um, for, for more to, to join, um, the blockchain.
Ecosystem, and so I would love to see it, but irrespective of what happens in Washington, it's pretty clear to me that the train has left the station and the direction of travel is clear, and that, um, tokenized uh equities is the future, and I think that future is on Solana.
Well, Nick, always great talking to you.
I'm sure you and I will be talking from many events this year, so thank you so much for joining me and thank you so much for all of your insights.
As always, thanks for having me.
My pleasure.
