The Solana Foundation on Tuesday launched a developer platform designed to make it easier for financial institutions to issue stablecoins and tokenized assets on its blockchain. Mastercard, Western Union and Worldpay are early users.
The news comes as banks and payments companies scramble to build out stablecoin infrastructure following the passage of the GENIUS Act, the first federal law regulating stablecoins.
"Our target for the Solana Developer Platform is these kinds of Web 2 companies that are crypto curious, but not yet crypto native," said Catherine Gu, head of product for digital assets at the Solana Foundation. The offering is for companies that want to build on Solana but might be put off by the technical complexity of doing so from scratch.
Gu, who previously launched Visa's tokenized asset platform, said the SDP has more than 20 partners, an ecosystem that spans four categories: node infrastructure, wallets, compliance and ramps.
It’s also designed to work with AI coding tools including Claude Code by Anthropic and OpenAI's Codex. The foundation created downloadable skill files that enterprises can feed into their own AI models, giving them a starting point for building, Gu said.
In statements accompanying the launch, Mastercard's Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of blockchain and digital assets, said the company is using the toolset for stablecoin settlement. Western Union's Malcolm Clarke, VP of digital assets, described it as an extension of its cross-border network, while Worldpay's Ahmed Zifzaf, head of crypto partnerships, said it would give merchants access to on-chain settlement.
The platform is currently available in a testing environment, with a version running on Solana's main network expected later this year, Gu said.
A trading module with features such as vaults and foreign exchange is planned for a subsequent release, she added. Privacy features are also coming to the payments module as early as April, which would allow transactions to be completed without revealing the amount or balance to outside parties.
David True, a partner at PayGility Advisors, said the platform launch is ultimately about gaining share among incumbents in a market where the stakes are high.
"This is a fiercely competitive space; no one knows exactly where the most value will come from, but pretty much all agree there will be big business from digital money," he said.
Gu framed the SDP as part of a bigger ambition for Solana.
"We want to be the internet capital market," she said, "and therefore we invest heavily in institutional adoption."
