To The Moon

There’s no denying it—blockchain has crept its way into institutional boardrooms. Asset managers are no longer just dabbling; they’re actively prototyping on-chain strategies. But before we get carried away, let’s be clear: this isn’t a gold rush. It’s more of a cautious toe-dip into tokenised waters. Still, two chains—Solana and XRP—have caught my attention for how they’re positioning themselves in this slow-burn revolution. Not because they’re flawless. But because they’re relevant. And in crypto, relevance is a form of momentum.

Where finance meets code—one block at a time

Solana’s high-speed pitch to TradFi comes with baggage

Solana has evolved into a serious contender for real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation, with a compelling mix of low fees, blistering transaction speeds, and a developer ecosystem that actually builds. Its validator count is over 1,100, and it’s processing millions of transactions daily at a fraction of a cent per transaction. In the past month alone, $300 billion in token volume has moved across the chain. These aren’t vanity metrics. This is functional infrastructure.

Big names like Franklin Templeton are experimenting with tokenised fund shares on Solana—promising, but not yet transformative. Let’s not pretend Wall Street is sprinting into decentralised finance. This is the experimental stage. Institutions are trialling—not committing. Still, if tokenisation does become mainstream, Solana has planted its flag early.

That said, we can’t ignore the risks. Solana’s history of network outages has rightly drawn criticism. It has suffered multiple downtimes since 2021—some lasting hours. While the network’s uptime has improved dramatically in 2025, the reputational scars remain, particularly for institutions that demand reliability over novelty. The validator set, though growing, also suffers from centralisation concerns due to a relatively small number of influential infrastructure players.

Valuation-wise, Solana is flirting with its all-time high at $206. With a market cap around $101 billion and just $4.3 million in net protocol revenue over 30 days, the price-to-revenue multiple is steep—more like a hypergrowth tech stock than a utility protocol. But crucially, that revenue is growing rapidly, up sharply from early 2024 levels, driven by rising network activity, meme coin surges, and real-world usage. Solana may be expensive, but it's no longer purely speculative.

Solana’s MACD and volume confirm building institutional momentum YTD

XRP’s payment pedigree isn’t flashy—but it’s real

XRP, meanwhile, plays a different game altogether. At over $3.20 and a market cap nearing $191 billion, XRP is finally revisiting price levels it hasn’t seen since 2018. The difference? This time, there's legal clarity in the U.S.—and real traction in cross-border payments.

Ripple has spent years nurturing institutional partnerships. While not all of them have gone the distance, there’s a steady momentum in building payment corridors using the XRP Ledger. The chain handles around 2.8 million transactions a day, and over 7 million wallets are now on-chain. It may not dominate the headlines, but its footprint is global and persistent.

Still, XRP comes with its own set of headaches. Revenue generation is modest—just $630K last quarter—owing to the chain’s deliberately low fees. It’s optimised for throughput, not profit. That limits the scope for traditional valuation models, as staking rewards or cash flows are largely absent. The massive token supply—nearly 100 billion in total—adds a further layer of uncertainty. Future unlocks could dilute holders or spook the market.

From an investor’s standpoint, XRP behaves more like a payments protocol than an equity-like asset. Its utility is derived from liquidity and settlement speed, not tokenomics or network effects. That’s either an advantage or a weakness, depending on how much you value simplicity and institutional compatibility.

XRP tests volatility limits as tokenisation themes heat up

Tokenisation is coming—but probably slower than crypto hopes

It’s tempting to paint a bullish future where trillions in assets get wrapped into blockchain-native formats and settle instantly. But the truth is far more measured. Most of what we’re seeing today—tokenised funds, synthetic treasuries, or programmable cash—is happening at the pilot level. The infrastructure is being tested, not deployed en masse.

Still, both Solana and XRP are capturing early slices of this migration. Solana is excelling in the digitisation of capital markets—think tokenised equities, funds, and even real estate. XRP is carving out relevance in currency rails and FX settlement. What’s important is that they’re building in different lanes. For now.

That said, competition is intense. Ethereum remains the heavyweight in institutional DeFi, supported by tools like MetaMask Institutional and protocols such as Aave and Centrifuge. Avalanche is courting financial firms with its subnet architecture. Polygon is playing aggressively with enterprise integrations. And XRP, despite its head start in payments, is shadowed by Stellar and newer entrants in stablecoin-backed transfers.

So the idea that these two won’t compete directly is a bit too tidy. As tokenisation expands, the lines will blur. Chains will fight for wallet integrations, custody partnerships, and developer mindshare. This isn’t a zero-sum game—but it is a crowded one.

Two chains. One direction. Different speeds, same destination

Different plays, same direction

I’m watching both Solana and XRP because they’re building meaningful components of a financial future that’s inching its way on-chain. Solana is the performance-layer bet for tokenised markets. XRP is the compliance-conscious bet for institutional payments. They’re not winning yet—but they’re building when others are still theorising.

If tokenisation accelerates, I expect both assets to ride the tailwinds in different ways. If it stalls, well, they may still have enough utility to justify a leaner future. Either way, I'm more interested in owning the protocols powering the plumbing than guessing which tokenised asset gets packaged next.

Wall Street may not move at Solana’s transaction speed—but it’s moving. And for once, crypto might be early and right.

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