The Eve Before Solana's Surge! 65 Million Revolut Users Unlock ETF, Institutions Buying Aggressively

The bridge between Solana and traditional finance is becoming increasingly tight. On December 3, Revolut added native support for SOL and stablecoin payments and staking within its app, unlocking the full functionality of the Solana ecosystem for its 65 million users worldwide. As the Breakpoint conference approaches (December 11-13 in Abu Dhabi), institutions are accumulating 1.2 million SOL.

Revolut’s Native Integration Unlocks 65 Million Users

Revolut has achieved native support for Solana (SOL), a milestone for Solana’s mainstream adoption. Previously, the platform only offered basic access to this asset, limited to trading and investment functions, without full blockchain interaction. The update released on December 3 dramatically changed this, enabling users to make payments, send and receive funds, and stake directly via the Solana network, effectively upgrading Revolut from a simple trading platform to a comprehensive entry point into the Solana ecosystem.

This expansion includes peer-to-peer (P2P) operations and transactions using Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) within the Solana network. The integration of stablecoins means users can enjoy Solana’s high speed and low fees while avoiding the price volatility risk of cryptocurrencies. This combination makes Solana a viable option for everyday payments, not just speculation.

Revolut has 65 million users across 38 countries, a user base comparable to the population of a medium-sized country. Native integration means any of these 65 million users can start using Solana with just one click, without downloading extra wallets or learning complex blockchain operations. This frictionless user experience is key for Solana’s mass adoption. For Revolut users, the app previously only supported a handful of blockchains like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP). The addition of Solana expands user choices and opens up new ways to interact with crypto in daily life.

Solana has quickly risen in global payment solutions due to its efficiency and is now connected to services like Cash App, Venmo, and Western Union. Integration with Revolut further promotes its development in the fintech space and strengthens the practicality of its transaction functions. This update comes at a strategic moment, just before the Breakpoint 2025 conference, which typically gathers developers and companies relevant to Solana’s network growth and is expected to announce more major partnerships.

Three Major Impacts of Revolut’s Integration with Solana

Explosive User Base Growth: 65 million users can directly use Solana, effectively adding tens of millions of potential active addresses

Real-World Payment Scenarios: P2P transfers and stablecoin integration turn Solana from an investment tool into a means for everyday payments

Staking Yield Popularization: Built-in staking lowers technical barriers, attracting ordinary users to participate in network security

Dual Institutional Endorsement from Franklin Templeton and Vanguard

Franklin Templeton launched a Solana ETF on the New York Stock Exchange, marking a landmark event in traditional asset management’s embrace of Solana. With over $1.5 trillion in assets under management, Franklin Templeton’s launch of a Solana ETF represents recognition of the network’s long-term value. Unlike the cautious approach when Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs were launched, approval for the Solana ETF was much quicker, indicating regulators’ growing acceptance of mainstream crypto assets.

Vanguard’s policy shift is even more striking. As the world’s second-largest asset manager with over $8 trillion AUM, Vanguard had previously resisted cryptocurrencies. Now, allowing its 50 million customers to access Solana funds signals that conservative institutional investors are starting to take Solana seriously. If just 1% of these 50 million clients allocate $1,000 each to Solana funds, it would result in a potential inflow of $500 million.

The launch of ETFs provides institutional investors with a compliant investment channel. Many traditional financial institutions, due to internal policies or regulatory restrictions, cannot directly purchase or hold cryptocurrencies but can gain exposure via ETFs. This structural demand was a key driver behind the price surges of Bitcoin and Ethereum after ETF launches. Although the Solana ETF arrived later, it may replicate similar effects.

In terms of timing, these integrations all occurred just before the Breakpoint conference, which is no coincidence. The Solana Foundation has clearly been in long-term discussions and preparation with these institutions, choosing to announce collectively ahead of the year’s most important industry event to maximize market impact. The Breakpoint conference, taking place December 11-13 in Abu Dhabi, is expected to attract thousands of developers, investors, and business representatives. These integration announcements will be further elaborated and promoted at the conference.

DEX Trading Volume of $23.4 Billion Crushes Ethereum

Last week, trading volume on Solana’s decentralized exchanges (DEXs) reached $23.4 billion—nearly double that of Ethereum. This figure is highly compelling, as it reflects actual on-chain activity, not speculative price action. DEX trading volume represents real user demand and ecosystem activity, making it one of the most important indicators of blockchain network health.

Solana’s DEX ecosystem is dominated by protocols like Raydium, Orca, and Jupiter. These protocols provide automated market making (AMM) services, allowing users to trade tokens without centralized exchanges. Solana’s technical advantages shine here: throughput of thousands of transactions per second and fees below $0.001 make both high-frequency and small-value trades economically viable.

By contrast, although Ethereum’s DEX ecosystem is more mature and protocols like Uniswap offer deeper liquidity, high gas fees—reaching tens or even hundreds of dollars during network congestion—severely limit participation from ordinary users. This cost disparity has driven much trading activity from Ethereum to Solana, especially for meme coins and small-cap tokens, where Solana now holds a dominant position.

A weekly trading volume of $23.4 billion means Solana’s DEX ecosystem processes around $3.3 billion in transactions daily. This scale is close to that of many mid-sized centralized exchanges. More importantly, DEX trading generates network fees, with part burned and part distributed to validators. High trading volume directly translates into economic value for the Solana network, supporting the long-term value of the SOL token.

With partners tokenizing loans and credit, Solana’s real-world asset (RWA) ecosystem is also growing. This is another area where Solana outpaces other Layer-1 blockchains. Tokenized RWAs include traditional financial products like real estate, bonds, and credit, circulating them on-chain to substantially reduce transaction costs and increase liquidity. Multiple TradFi institutions are testing RWA solutions based on Solana, with the market size potentially reaching several trillion dollars.

Institutions Accumulate 1.2 Million SOL Ahead of Breakpoint Rally

Data shows that as the Breakpoint conference (December 11-13 in Abu Dhabi) approaches, institutions are accumulating 1.2 million SOL. This concentrated buying is extremely rare and indicates that professional investors have clear expectations for major announcements during the conference. At the current price of about $180 per SOL, this represents an inflow of roughly $216 million.

Breakpoint is the Solana ecosystem’s annual flagship conference, with each event announcing major technical upgrades, partnerships, and ecosystem development plans. The 2024 Breakpoint conference announced significant progress on the Firedancer validator client, a key project to improve Solana’s performance and decentralization. The 2025 conference will be held in Abu Dhabi, a Middle East financial center that has recently embraced crypto, with the UAE’s sovereign wealth funds actively allocating to digital assets.

The logic behind institutional accumulation before the conference is clear: they anticipate major positive announcements and position themselves early for the best prices. This “buy the rumor” strategy is common in traditional markets and is increasingly prevalent in crypto. Notably, this 1.2 million SOL accumulation occurred after a price pullback from recent highs, showing that institutional investors see current prices as attractive.

This update comes at a strategic moment and is expected to boost Solana’s adoption over the next year, especially among users who already rely on Revolut as a primary financial tool. With features like staking, P2P transfers, and stablecoin integration, Revolut now offers a more comprehensive selection for users seeking Solana’s advanced functionalities.