Blockchain Infrastructure and Institutional Adoption 

Welcome to FinTech TV.

I'm Emmy Blair.

We're coming to you live from Consensus Miami 2026.

Now the infrastructure buildout comes out on Blockchain with Go Labs, serving as a provider for Salana.

Now Go does provide the regulated, secure, as well as capital efficient rails required for large scale capital to enter the Solana ecosystem.

And because institutions care about maximizing returns per unit of risk, Gito's infra provides a unique yield stack that.

Other blockchains can easily replicate.

Well, joining me live is Lucas Gruder, who is the CEO and co-founder of Judo Labs.

Lucas, great to see you here.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thanks for having me.

Well, we're live on the ground here at Consensus, but yesterday's Salonna Accelerate also took place.

So tell us about your announcement.

Yeah, we announced a new trading engine for Salana users targeting the pro retail prosumer audience, calling it JTX.

So it's trying to bring more traders on chain onto Sallana.

Sallana has the best prices for Eve, BTC, Solana.

It's cheaper than sex, so really trying to highlight that and make a really good trading experience for users.

And 2026 we've been hearing about institutional adoption.

So tell us what's happening when it comes to the institutions right now.

Yeah, they're here.

I feel like we've been talking about it for a while.

It's like since 2017 or 2018, but they're here.

Uh, on Solana we're seeing really good progress on the ETFs.

Those are growing super fast.

And then especially on Solana, there's, uh, Solana is a really good trading chain, so we're seeing a lot of big players come onto Solana to do market making, and that's why the prices are so good.

So they're definitely here.

They're going to continue to grow.

I'm excited to see more RWAs, equities, things like that come on chain and get the best prices for users.

Yeah, and Lucas, we know that institutional adoption has been a theme that we've been watching for a while now, and you see some big names here.

And given the fact that you're here not just for Solana, but also for Consensus 2026, I want to get your take on security.

So tell Where you think we are when it comes to security for digital assets, securities in the sense of like equities and stocks and things like that on chain.

Well, actually, security in terms of safety, just of the hacks that we've seen so far.

Yeah, it's been a really rough month.

I think that there's a lot of work to do still.

And a lot of the vulnerabilities and hacks that we've seen this year are just related to people across the sea, so not even code, but we've really learned how patient a lot of these actors are.

And so everyone is rethinking their security and realizing how patient these people are and setting up multiple safeguards to really guard these protocols and keep them safe.

Yes, it's really interesting because at the same time we're talking about the proliferation of artificial intelligence and what that means for digital assets, but when we think about some of these hacks, at the end of the day, the user is a human being, so it's really interesting.

To see how some of these hacks were actually taking place and how they unfolded, but I do want to hear about what's happening in terms of Gito Lab development.

So tell us what's happening when it comes to the Jito Solana Validator client.

Yeah, so we have a new system that we're rolling out right now.

It's right around 30% of stake.

We're calling it BAM.

And it's basically a kind of the next evolution of our infrastructure for block building on Solana, and we're really focusing on making it really easy for market makers to make markets on chain and get really good prices for users.

So that's what's going on in like the the Gito Solana land, roughly 30% of stake running it, a lot of different.

Parties and validators, I think there's probably around 300 validators running that right now.

So we're in the process of rolling that out right now, and that's our next generation system.

And Lucas, finally, before I let you go, we're here at Consensus, and a lot of focus might be on, say, the price of Bitcoin.

So when it comes to Solana, what are some myths that you would like to dispel right now?

Yeah, I think that this myth that Solana is a meme coin chain.

I think that was certainly true a few years ago, but I think there's been a lot of progress, as I mentioned earlier, like the cheapest place to buy Solana, Ethereum, Bitcoin, it's not on a centralized exchange, it's on chain on Solana.

And so I think that will continue to accelerate across more digital assets.

And then also we'll start to see more securities, more RWAs. commodities, things like that trade on chain.

And so I think Solana is going to have a really good year.

It's going to be a really good place to trade for market makers and users, and I think it will continue to give better prices than centralized exchanges.

And finally, before I let you go, since we're alive on the ground here, give us your take on the temperature in the room and what do you expect to see heading into the rest of 2026.

Yeah, I feel like it's cautiously bullish.

Obviously, Bitcoin, uh, I can't remember what the bottom was, but we're right around 800 right now.

Um, I think people are kind of starting to ignore the macro conditions a little bit, and I feel like it's optimistically bullish, and yeah, I think there's, there's a lot of focus on these securities and bringing them on chain and just bringing more assets on chain.

So really excited to see how that develops over the next few months and the rest of the year.

Well, Lucas, I appreciate your time.

Thank you so much for joining us here at Consensus in Miami.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you.