Solana and Trading: How the Blockchain is Becoming the New Foundation of Global Finance

The cryptocurrency ecosystem is undergoing a major transformation. While the Solana blockchain was previously known for meme coins and toys, it is now becoming a platform for trading and financial infrastructure similar to Wall Street. According to Armani Ferrante, CEO of Backpack crypto exchange, this change is not accidental but the result of a clear strategy to establish Solana as a neutral settlement layer for the entire world.

“People are starting to think of blockchains as a new kind of financial infrastructure,” Ferrante said in an interview with CoinDesk. On-chain trading and the standardized token model are becoming more important than NFTs or random gaming projects that once led the industry.

From meme coin craze to sophisticated trading

Last year, the Solana ecosystem focused more on serious financial infrastructure. While the broader crypto industry played in NFTs, gaming, and social tokens, attention is shifting back to decentralized finance (DeFi), trading, and payment systems with real value.

This shift is not just propaganda but based on tangible progress. The network continues to expand its capabilities in high-throughput on-chain trading, market infrastructure, and settlement mechanisms—creating what experts call “internet capital markets.”

The role of high-performance blockchains in the future of trading

Emerging projects within the ecosystem demonstrate this potential. MegaETH, the upcoming high-performance Ethereum layer-2 network, will launch a public mainnet on February 9, aiming to provide real-time blockchain experience for trading and transactions.

Meanwhile, Pudgy Penguins shows how crypto-native brands are becoming multi-vertical consumer platforms. The project has reached over $13 million in retail sales, more than 1 million units sold, and over 6 million wallets received PENGU tokens. This illustrates that trading and tokenization are not just financial concepts but have real-world applications.

Real-world adoption: trading success depends on regulation

A critical point for Solana and other blockchains is integration into existing regulatory frameworks. Ferrante emphasized that the future is not about avoiding rules but about deeper cooperation with laws.

“The true meaning of the era is the real world,” he said. “And in the real world, trading and finance should be subject to proper regulations.”

Sentiment on Wall Street is rising. While crypto prices remain volatile and many crypto investors stay cautious, institutional interest is growing due to tokenization opportunities, stablecoin adoption, and on-chain settlement possibilities.

Solana’s bet: becoming a neutral infrastructure for global trading

Looking ahead, the vision is clear: assets like stocks and derivatives will become standardized tokens moving across blockchains instead of being confined to siloed databases. The “token” will serve as a single, canonical entry in the ledger indicating true ownership—an applicable concept across all industries.

As cryptocurrency advances from a speculative experiment to embedded financial infrastructure, trading and compliance are becoming features, not obstacles. Solana’s long-term goal is to make it a reliable settlement layer for real-world finance, even after the hype of the past era fades. Ultimately, success will not be measured by memecoin trends but by its ability to power global trading and transactions continuously.