Skybridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci believes the Solana network will lead the future of asset tokenization. In a speech at the recently concluded Solana breakpoint conference, Scaramucci noted that asset tokenization has massive potential and could save the world as much as $7 trillion by streamlining the financial systems.
According to him, the industry spends around $7 trillion annually on transaction verification. The current process involves several counterparties and intermediaries, making it expensive and less straightforward.
He said:
“For the last 5,00 years, we’ve had third parties verifying transactions. The problem in the securities industry, it is not one third party, it’s actually seven or eight different parties. So, if you buy stock from my account, it’s got to go through seven different entities before it gets to your account.”
Although he observed that transactions are now being finalized within a day of placing the trade, he noted that there is still significant friction. He pitched that tokenization will fix that by replacing these intermediaries with trustless, permissionless, and distributed networks, eliminating these costs and making transactions more seamless.
Scaramucci added that Solana will be a major player in the tokenized future and admitted that he owns a lot of SOL, which is part of why he is rooting for the network.
Major financial institutions are coming to Solana
While Scaramucci focused on Solana’s potential to be the leading network for tokenization, there were already signs that others agreed with him at the Breakpoint event. Two major TradFi institutions, Franklin Templeton and Citi Bank, both announced that they will use Solana for some of their future offerings.
Trillion-dollar asset manager Franklin Templeton announced at the event that it would launch a tokenized mutual fund on Solana. The firm’s executive, Mike Reed, disclosed this, noting that the network’s cost-efficiency and scalability were deciding factors for them in choosing the network.
Citibank has also announced that it will explore using the Solana network for money transfers and tokenization services in the future. Although it did not fully disclose its plans, this is not surprising given the improvements to the Solana network this year and how it has shaken off a bad reputation for its affiliation with Sam Bankman Fried and frequent outages.
Meanwhile, Solana still has a long road in the tokenization scene. According to data from Dune analytics, the network only accounts for 2.9% of the $2.037 billion in on-chain tokenized government securities. This puts it far behind Ethereum with 62.6%, Stellar with 28.7%, and Mantle with 4.5%.
SOL declines 2% after Breakpoint
With the Solana Breakpoint 2024 ending, SOL has fallen 2% today, dropping below $145 after rising above $150 during the event. The decline is likely due to reduced bullish sentiment, although the token remains up almost 9% in the past seven days.
Still, the event represents a significant success for the Solana network, as it is its biggest ever, improving community sentiment about the network. A post on the Solana official X account shows that over 6,000 people attended the event, and over 75 products were unveiled. Abu Dhabi, UAE, has already been announced as the host city for the 2025 Breakpoint.
Meanwhile, Solana’s current performance might also be contributing to the positive sentiments about the network. According to Defillama data, Solana decentralized exchanges (DEXs) volume has increased by almost 13% in the past week, reaching as high as $5.17 billion and slightly behind Ethereum at $5.672 billion.
