Solana becomes a top choice for institutional investors after PayPal introduces USD feature

Solana, ranked as the fourth-largest blockchain by total value locked (TVL), is emerging as a top choice for institutional adoption.
More and more financial institutions are looking to connect with the Solana blockchain to ensure the longevity of their services, as stated by Robinson Burkey, co-founder and chief commercial officer of Wormhole Foundation.
Burkey shared in a research report with Cointelegraph:
In a groundbreaking move on May 28, PayPal introduced its PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin to the Solana network, marking its first venture into a blockchain outside of the Ethereum ecosystem.
This integration will allow Solana users to make cost-effective transactions using PYUSD on the network, expanding the stablecoin’s usage for everyday purchases.
In September 2023, global payments giant Visa launched USD Coin (USDC) on the Solana blockchain, making it the second network to support the stablecoin after Ethereum.
Solana stands out as one of the most scalable blockchain networks capable of handling high volumes of transactions.
With a theoretical throughput of up to 65,000 transactions per second (TPS) and an average transaction cost of $0.0025, Solana surpasses Ethereum’s 15 TPS and its significantly higher gas fees ranging from over $1 to up to $50 during network congestion.
Solana’s infrastructure is well-suited for integrating with the established processes of traditional payment institutions, leading to increased institutional adoption, according to Ran Goldi, vice president of payments at Fireblocks, who commented:
The addition of a confidential transfers feature could open up even more opportunities for institutional collaborations for Solana, added Goldi.
According to data from DefiLlama, Solana currently holds the title of the fourth-largest blockchain network with over $4.7 billion in TVL, representing 4.49% of the total TVL across all blockchains.
Aside from the growing institutional interest, there are speculations that Solana (SOL) could be the next cryptocurrency to have a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), as pointed out by Tristan Frizza, founder of Zeta Markets.
Frizza mentioned in a note to Cointelegraph:
The possibility of a Solana-based ETF first arose in January when trillion-dollar asset manager Franklin Templeton commended Solana for its innovative approach to blockchain scaling, hailing it as a “powerful use case of decentralized blockchains,” as reported in a Jan. 17 X post.
Crypto investor and CNBC Fast Money trader Brian Kelly also suggested that Solana might be the next cryptocurrency to receive a spot ETF in the United States.