The Solana Foundation is working to create an “internet capital market” that could soon host native on-chain Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), according to its president, Lily Liu. Speaking at the Finternet 2025 Asia Digital Finance Summit on November 4, Liu outlined a vision to bridge the gap between traditional finance and the crypto industry by providing wider access to liquidity.

She revealed that the organization plans to facilitate on-chain IPOs within the next few years. This modern approach to taking a company public involves issuing shares as digital tokens directly on a blockchain, bypassing traditional stock exchanges and other intermediaries. Liu believes this innovation is the next major frontier for the industry.

“That’s what technology does, it shortens the access required between one side of the market and the other,” Liu explained during an interview with OSL Group’s Eugene Cheung. “So I think when it comes to internet capital markets, that I think is now the new white whale for this industry.”

Liu argued that many on-chain mechanisms could be optimized to replace outdated price discovery methods used in traditional finance. Using blockchain technology could also introduce greater transparency and allow for integrated security measures like Know-Your-Customer (KYC) protocols.

Bridging Traditional Finance with Blockchain

To advance its goals, the Solana Foundation has been exploring collaborations with established financial institutions, including Franklin Templeton and Western Union. These partnerships aim to deepen the blockchain’s role in payments and stablecoins. Liu emphasized that the true value of blockchain technology isn’t hype but its function as a foundational platform for the financial system.

“I think our perspective on the purpose of blockchain is that it’s tech that serves finance,” Liu stated. “And if you think about what the needs of financial systems are, they’re actually pretty simple. Number one is liquidity, and in order for liquidity to be accessible it has to be fast and cheap.”

The Strategic Role of Stablecoins

Liu also commented on the growing influence of stablecoins, noting that a shifting regulatory landscape is a key driver of their adoption. As governments in the U.S. and Hong Kong become more open to them, stablecoins are becoming a central focus on financial roadmaps worldwide.

“Stablecoins are a topic of economic national security that has obviously gotten everyone’s attention everywhere around the world and has put blockchain infrastructure front and center,” she said.

According to data from DeFi Llama, approximately $14.25 billion of the $307 billion global stablecoin market is deployed on the Solana blockchain. The majority of this is USD Coin (USDC), which accounts for nearly 65% of the stablecoins on the network.

A recent collaboration with Western Union highlights Solana’s push in this area. The project aims to launch a new stablecoin, the U.S. Dollar Payment Token (USDPT), using Solana’s underlying infrastructure. The token will be issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, with a full rollout expected in the first half of 2026.