- The Solana Foundation has appointed former Binance global CMO Rachel Conlan as chief strategy officer.
- Former Polygon Labs executive Jamal Raees joins as general manager of payments.
- The Foundation says the hires aim to accelerate institutional adoption and payment activity on Solana.
- Company-reported figures cite more than $5 trillion in stablecoin volume on Solana during 2026, over $4.5 billion in real-world assets, and tokenized equity supply above $620 million.
- Solana traded near $120.41, up 2.91%, while Ethereum changed hands around $2,684.43, down 0.11%.
The Solana Foundation has moved to deepen its institutional bench, naming Rachel Conlan, formerly Binance’s global chief marketing officer, as chief strategy officer, and bringing on former Polygon Labs executive Jamal Raees as general manager of payments. The Foundation framed the appointments as a push to accelerate institutional adoption and payment activity across the network, according to its own news channel.
Conlan’s background spans three years as Binance’s global CMO, with earlier senior roles at OKX, CAA Sports and Havas. Her mandate at Solana is broader than marketing: the Foundation says she will oversee institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth and go-to-market strategy. Raees takes a narrower brief centered on payments, covering stablecoins, tokenized deposits and the infrastructure needed to make Solana function as a financial settlement network.
Why The Foundation Is Staffing Up Now
Solana’s earlier growth story was tied heavily to trading, NFTs and consumer applications. The network is now positioning itself around payments, tokenization and institutional settlement, which puts it in a different competitive set. Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks remain deeply embedded in tokenized finance, while newer payment-focused chains and private banking networks are chasing many of the same use cases. Solana’s pitch rests on performance: high throughput, low transaction costs and an existing pool of stablecoin liquidity. The market has been rewarding that narrative recently, with Solana trading near $120.41, up 2.91% on the day, while Ethereum sat around $2,684.43, down 0.11%.
Technology Alone Does Not Bring Banks Onchain
That gap between network capability and institutional uptake is precisely where the new hires are meant to operate. Banks, asset managers and payment companies require partnerships, compliance integration and people who can translate blockchain infrastructure into products that fit existing financial businesses. Throughput and fees matter, but procurement, custody arrangements and regulatory comfort matter more to the desks that move size. Bringing in executives with exchange and scaling experience signals the Foundation understands that distribution and relationships, not raw performance, are the binding constraint.
The competitive pressure is real. Tokenized treasuries, stablecoin settlement rails and tokenized equity products are contested territory, and Ethereum’s entrenched position among issuers and custodians gives it a durable advantage even where Solana is faster or cheaper. Solana already has the network and the liquidity. Conlan and Raees are being brought in to help turn that network into something institutions and payment companies actually use, a conversion problem that no amount of throughput can solve on its own.
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