Solana News Today: Solana's Upgrades Power 100K TPS, Reshaping Global Finance

Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation, has underscored the blockchain's momentum as a builder-first platform, with recent developments highlighting its appeal to developers and institutions. Her remarks come amid a surge in Solana's ecosystem activity, including a new decentralized exchange (DEX) from co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, a major remittance wallet launch, and infrastructure upgrades aimed at boosting scalability.

The Solana network, known for its high throughput and low fees, is gaining traction as a preferred base for decentralized finance (DeFi) and global payments. Liu's endorsement of Zepz's new Solana-based wallet — launched to facilitate cross-border transactions via USDC — reflects the blockchain's growing utility. "Zepz's vision to make global transfers into a reality defined by unparalleled speed, unwavering security, and universal affordability can uniquely take place on Solana," Liu stated. The wallet, which supports over 100 countries, leverages Solana's fast finality to enable near-instant settlements.

Solana's technical roadmap also gained momentum with the announcement of the SIMD-0266 upgrade, which reduces token program resource usage by up to 98% compared to the current SPL standard. Developed by Anza, the team behind Solana's node software, the upgrade introduces a more efficient p-token architecture, slashing compute costs and freeing block space for higher transaction volumes. This efficiency is expected to lower barriers for DeFi developers, enabling complex smart contracts and advanced applications without compromising performance.

The network's expansion is further supported by Percolator, a new DEX designed by Yakovenko to rival platforms like Hyperliquid. Percolator's sharded perpetual exchange protocol allows independent liquidity pools to operate while ensuring atomic routing and portfolio netting. The project, described as "implementation-ready," is under testing and could soon compete with existing Solana-based derivatives platforms.

Meanwhile, Solana's institutional adoption continues to grow. A Cathie Wood-backed treasury initiative revealed plans for aggressive Solana token purchases and mergers, while Zepz's partnership with Circle to integrate USDC has boosted stablecoin adoption. These moves align with broader trends, as Solana's active addresses and DeFi activity rebound, albeit from a dip earlier this month.

The Solana Accelerate APAC summit, launched in Beijing with partners like Hashkey Labs, aims to deepen the blockchain's presence in Asia-Pacific markets. The event series focuses on crypto adoption, DePIN, and Web3 innovation, reflecting Solana's strategy to scale beyond its core user base.

Despite short-term price volatility, Solana's fundamentals remain strong. The SIMD-0266 upgrade and Alpenglow consensus overhaul — slated for 2026 — position the network to handle over 100,000 transactions per second, addressing scalability concerns and attracting enterprise-grade applications. As Liu emphasized, Solana's builder-centric ethos continues to drive innovation, with ecosystem projects like Zepz and Percolator exemplifying its potential to redefine global finance.