Solana for Enterprise: Reasons and Use Cases

Enterprises looking to integrate blockchain technology into their operations are considering Solana for its speed, cost-effectiveness, and strong developer adoption. Solana has emerged as a leading choice for enterprise adoption and continues to gain momentum.

In this article, we’ll examine the unique features and advantages that make Solana well-suited for enterprise use.

We’ll also look at real-world case studies of companies that have successfully integrated with Solana, and explore why existing blockchain projects are migrating to Solana.

How can enterprise companies benefit from blockchains?

Blockchains are modernizing the way money and value move across the internet. They are reshaping industries such as payments, banking, fintech, trading, and real-world asset tokenization, creating faster, more efficient, and globally accessible infrastructure. 

Enterprises that adopt blockchain technology can accelerate settlement times, lower operating costs, and improve transparency and auditability across their operations. These efficiencies lead to better products, stronger customer trust, higher margins, and a more resilient business model overall.

This is the direction the world is moving, and today’s vanguard companies are already positioning themselves for success by choosing Solana as the foundation of their blockchain strategy.

Reasons Why Enterprises Choose Solana

Solana is designed for enterprise scale as it offers high transaction speeds, low latency, and predictably low fees.

Solana also focuses on optimizing on-chain storage, maintaining a high level of decentralization, and minimizing its environmental impact.

In this section, we’ll cover:

• Throughput - how Solana processes high transaction volumes
• Latency - how Solana processes blocks every 400ms
• Finality - the time it takes for a transaction to be confirmed
• Transaction Fees - the predictability and affordability of fees
• State Compression - optimizing on-chain storage
• Decentralization - the network’s level of decentralization
• Energy Efficiency - Solana’s approach to sustainability

Throughput

Speed is essential for enterprises. Slow transactions can hinder innovation and the practical use of blockchain technology.

For instance, delays in transaction times can be problematic if wait times exceed the time users expect to wait while using traditional systems.

Solana is designed for high transaction throughput. It averages over 1,000 user-generated transactions per second (TPS). In terms of raw TPS (including vote transactions made by validators for consensus), Solana averages ~4,300 TPS. 

For context, Ethereum’s network, including all its 140+ layer 2s and sidechains, averaged ~300 TPS in the last month according to L2Beat.  

Solana has a theoretical upper bound of 710,000 TPS on a standard gigabit network and 28.4 million TPS on a 40 gigabit network. The network has the potential to reach these high speeds, thanks to innovations such as Firedancer, a new high-performance validator client created by Jump Crypto, and DoubleZero, a private networking protocol.

How does Solana process high transaction volumes?

Unlike traditional blockchains that process transactions one at a time, Solana’s runtime, Sealevel, is designed to process transactions in parallel. Sealevel achieves this by using as many cores as are available to the validator. Solana transactions specify all the states that they will interact with, allowing non-conflicting transactions to be processed simultaneously.

To avoid transactions modifying the same piece of state, Solana uses Proof of History (PoH), a cryptographic time-stamping function, which enables nodes to agree on the order of transactions without needing to communicate with one another. This speeds up transaction confirmation times without compromising security or scalability.

Latency

What distinguishes Solana is its focus on low-latency transaction confirmation, measured by its slot times. A slot on Solana refers to the time it takes for the ledger to ingest transactions and produce a block. Solana aims for a target slot time of 400 milliseconds.

Today, slot times are below 400ms in practice due to performance optimizations made during the Agave 2.2 upgrade. 

To compare Solana’s block times to other networks:

• Bitcoin has a 10-minute block time
• Ethereum averages a 12-second block time
• Coinbase’s Base, has block times of 2 seconds

Solana’s short block times mean blocks are processed, confirmed, and finalized faster. 

Solana Commitment Levels

Solana has three primary commitment levels to measure finality:

1. Processed - means a transaction has been received and executed by a leader node but is not yet confirmed by the broader network.
2. Confirmed - means that the block a transaction was included in has been voted on by a two-thirds quorum of validators and is highly unlikely to be reverted.
3. Finalized - means the transaction is permanently locked into the ledger, with irreversibility guaranteed by consensus.

Critically, no confirmed transaction on Solana has ever been invalidated. This strong record gives enterprises confidence that once a transaction reaches the confirmation stage, it is effectively settled and immutable, even before it is fully finalized. 

Combined with sub-second slot times, this makes Solana one of the fastest and most reliable blockchains for real-time transactions.

Finality

Finality is the time it takes for a transaction to be confirmed on the network. For example, in a deep dive on Solana, Visa analyzed blockchain confirmation times in blocks and seconds or minutes, using data provided by Circle. Visa noted that USDC on Solana took an average of ~0.4 seconds and 1 block to confirm. 

In comparison:

• USDC and EUROC on Avalanche took ~2 seconds and 1 block to confirm
• USDC on Stellar took ~5 seconds and 1 block to confirm
• USDC, EUROC, and ETH on Ethereum took ~3 minutes and 12 blocks to confirm
• Bridged USDC on Polygon took ~30 minutes and 372 blocks to confirm

Not only is Solana fast, but it outperforms other blockchains in terms of transaction finality.

With Solana’s upcoming Alpenglow consensus algorithm, full finality is expected to be achieved in 100-150ms.

Low Transaction Fees

Solana’s transaction fees are notably low, often falling below $0.001 USD, with the average non-voting fee ranging from 0.000005 to 0.00007 SOL. At a SOL price of $170, this translates to approximately $0.00085 to $0.0119 USD.

Predictable Fees

What distinguishes Solana is the predictability of its fees. The network uses localized fee markets to manage demand, ensuring that only transactions trying to access a specific piece of high-demand state will see increased fees. 

This localization differs from gas-based networks, such as Ethereum, where users have paid upwards of $150 million USD collectively for failed transactions during periods of high demand in the past.

Solana maintains low fees by isolating congestion and creating localized fee markets based on areas of state contention rather than using a global fee market.

Solana offers both low and predictable fees.

State Compression

Solana’s ledger serves as a historical record of all transactions since the network’s inception. State refers to a dynamic snapshot of this ledger, adjusting to real-time operations such as transfers and program execution. State compression is Solana’s way of optimizing on-chain storage by using cheaper ledger storage space. 

Unlike traditional compression, Solana converts large sets of ledger data into a cryptographic hash. This hash is stored on-chain in state using a specialized data structure known as a Concurrent Merkle Tree. This data structure allows for quick updates and verification against a secure record of recent changes, known as a changelog.

This approach is cost-effective because it allows developers to use less expensive ledger storage instead of pricier account-based storage. State compression has led to innovative use cases such as enabling Dialect users to share NFT stickers on a mass scale and DRiP's weekly airdrops of free collectibles to tens of thousands of users.

This unique approach to optimizing on-chain storage offers distinct advantages that are only possible on Solana.

Decentralization

Solana operates as one of the largest Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks in the world by node count. Solana is considered one of the most distributed networks, with its level of decentralization quantified using the Nakamoto Coefficient. This metric measures the minimum number of entities needed to compromise the network. As of April 28th, 2025, Solana’s Nakamoto Coefficient is 20. The actual figure is likely lower since individual entities can operate multiple validators anonymously.

The network is validated by over 1,300 nodes located in more than 35 different countries and territories, with various hosting arrangements at multiple locations. At the time of writing this article, there are currently 1314 validator nodes securing the network, according to Solana Beach.

Validator client diversity is another factor that enhances network resilience. Validator clients are applications that validators use to participate in consensus by proposing and attesting blocks.

Validator client diversity leads to greater network resilience since a bug or vulnerability in one client will not cripple the entire network.

Solana launched with one validator client, developed by Solana Labs, with ongoing development now maintained by Anza.

Since then, there have been several independent efforts to create additional full or light validator clients:

• Jito Labs - released a second validator client to mainnet in August 2022. It is a fork of the Solana Labs client that is maintained and deployed by Jito
• Firedancer - an independent validator client being developed in C by Jump Crypto. The client is capable of processing up to 1.2 million raw TPS and 600k after deduplication in testing
• Sig - an intelligently optimized Solana validator client written in Zig. The client is a work in progress, but its progress can be monitored here.
• Mithril - a Solana full node client in the Go programming language, being developed to make verification of the chain easy and affordable

Stake Distribution

It is crucial not to overlook the impact of external factors such as geopolitics, natural disasters, and corporate strategies. Operating a node involves more than just hardware and software - it also involves a significant human element.

Solana’s high-performance requirements mean that many validator operators opt to lease server space from specialized data centers. This is a common practice across various blockchains, where the bulk of computational power is often outsourced to data centers. This is concerning as data center owners could potentially wield considerable influence over the blockchain’s operations.

Stake distribution should be as decentralized as possible, particularly among companies that provide server leasing services. This approach helps ensure a more resilient and democratic network, as it is less susceptible to single points of failure or control.

An Autonomous System (AS) consists of a server network identified by a unique routing number, known as an ASN. A single ASN can cover multiple physical locations, depending on the internal networking setup and router configuration.

Solana’s stake is relatively distributed among ASNs, with no AS hosting provider close to 33.3% of active stake. Two data centers could, however, collude to amass more than 33.3% of stake and compromise the network.

A blockchain must be geographically diverse to maintain uninterrupted operation amid world events. For example, in January 2022, top Bitcoin mining pools lost an average of 10% of their hashrate in 24 hours on January 6th. This decline was attributed to political turmoil in Kazakhstan, which previously accounted for 18% of Bitcoin’s global hashrate.

Solana boasts a diverse geographical distribution with no single country holding more than 18.3% of the active stake.

The Solana Foundation actively monitors stake distribution and implements measures, such as helping stake pools enhance geographical decentralization through their scoring algorithms.

Energy Efficiency

A prevalent critique of blockchain technology centers on its high energy consumption. The competitive nature of Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchains has given rise to massive Bitcoin mining farms, which have had a detrimental impact on the environment.

A single Bitcoin transaction, for instance, consumes an average of 5 billion Joules of energy. 

Projects such as Ethereum have recognized these environmental concerns and have transitioned from a PoW system to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) through a process known as The Merge. This shift has resulted in a 99.84% reduction in the Ethereum network’s energy consumption.

Even after this transition, the average Ethereum transaction still consumes around 144,000 Joules.

In contrast, Solana is energy efficient.

The average energy used per transaction on Solana is about 0.008 Wh.

For perspective, the energy used for a single Solana transaction is comparable to the energy used for a fraction of a Google search query.

The Solana Foundation is committed to neutralizing Solana’s carbon impact. Solana is the first Layer 1 blockchain with real-time energy emissions tracking. The emissions tracker software is embedded directly on Solana nodes, offering dynamic and detailed metrics that are free to access. These metrics include RPC node emissions, emissions granularity, marginal (or consequential) emissions, embodied emissions, and Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). 

The Solana Foundation encourages all projects and validators to examine their emissions data and adopt mitigation strategies. For instance, Orca has created the Orca Climate Fund (OCF), a community-driven initiative designed to foster a more sustainable climate.

Climate-focused Projects on Solana

The OCF is not an isolated effort; Solana boasts a growing climate-focused ecosystem. Some prominent climate-focused projects on Solana include:

• GainForest - a Swiss non-profit organization that leverages the transparent nature of Solana and artificial intelligence to help fight deforestation
• WaterDAO - a water credit verification body that works towards more decentralized and regenerative water infrastructure
• Sunrise Stake - a regenerative finance dApp aimed at strengthening the Solana blockchain while using staking rewards to offset carbon emissions
• Powerledger - a pioneering Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) project that enables peer-to-peer energy trading and real-time tracking of environmental assets.

Developer Experience

As stewards of both technological advancement and environmental sustainability, we have a responsibility to support and invest in solutions that align with these values. Solana’s commitment to energy efficiency serves as a model worth considering - it offers a carbon-neutral blockchain solution with an annual carbon footprint of 12,899 tons of CO2 and a net-zero carbon impact. This commitment to energy efficiency is deeply embedded within the network’s core architecture, making it a compelling choice for environmentally conscious enterprises.

Solana Criticisms

As Solana’s enterprise adoption grows, it’s important to address common criticisms. Many misconceptions about Solana stem from outdated information or misunderstandings of how the network has evolved.

Network Outages

A common criticism of Solana has been past network outages. While Solana did experience several outages in its early years, these were primarily caused by transaction spam overwhelming the network’s capacity. Since then, major upgrades, including introducing priority fees, migration to the QUIC networking protocol, and the adoption of stake-weighted quality of service, have vastly improved overall network resilience. Solana has achieved over a year of uninterrupted uptime at the time of writing, demonstrating the network’s maturity and stability.

Inflation

Another concern often raised is Solana’s inflation. Like most proof-of-stake networks, Solana issues new tokens to secure the network and incentivize validators. However, Solana’s inflation is designed to decline steadily over time, with a long-term target of just 1.5% annually. Today, Solana’s inflation rate stands at 4.57% and automatically decreases by 15% each year, following a predictable and sustainable schedule.

MEV

Some critics point to MEV as a potential issue on Solana. MEV refers to the value that can be extracted by manipulating transaction sequencing. While MEV exists on Solana, as it does on all performant blockchains, substantial resources have been dedicated to exploring various mechanisms for mitigating or reallocating MEV. General-purpose, out-of-protocol solutions are increasingly integrated into applications and infrastructure to minimize the on-chain MEV surface area. Learn more in our comprehensive Solana MEV Report.

Developer Experience

There is a perception that developing on Solana is more complex compared to other ecosystems, largely due to its unique account model and the use of Rust for program development. 

However, the ecosystem has made significant strides in improving the developer experience. Developer educational materials have improved considerably and new tools like the Kite Framework and Poseidon have made it easier than ever for teams to build and launch scalable applications on Solana.

Cost and Complexity to Run a Node

A recurring critique of Solana is the relatively high hardware and bandwidth requirements for running a validator. This is primarily due to Solana’s high-throughput design, which requires more from nodes compared to slower, lower-bandwidth chains. That said, the ecosystem is actively working to drastically reduce the primary operational cost of voting transactions through consensus optimizations.

While running a Solana node may require more upfront investment, the potential returns are also significantly higher, with operators earning from multiple reward streams, including staking, priority fees, and MEV.

Solana Permissioned Environments

For enterprises that need to comply with specific regulatory guidelines or requirements, permissioned blockchains offer a flexible solution.

A permissioned blockchain uses a shared and immutable ledger like a normal blockchain, but it can only be accessed by authorized members. Network members can control what information is visible to other members and the actions they can take. In this environment, business partners don’t have to trust one another. Trust is built into the blockchain’s design, providing greater transparency and verifiability.

Solana Permissioned Environments (SPEs) bring the power of Solana to enterprises with custom requirements. Here, enterprises can run their own instance of Solana in a dedicated environment that brings all the benefits of Solana, tailored to their specific needs. SPEs offer high throughput, parallelization, affordable fees, fast settlement time, and a low environmental impact.

Solana comes with a suite of native innovations that eliminate the need for third-party tooling. This includes state compression, support for the Solidity programming language, programmatic ways of bridging across different blockchains, and built-in support for zero-knowledge proofs. 

Solana’s new token standard, Token22, introduces features such as confidential transfers and transfer hooks, further enhancing the capabilities of enterprises building on a SPE.

Solana Permissioned Environments are a new solution for businesses using Solana. Contact our sales team to learn more and see if an SPE is right for your business.

Solana Enterprise Use Cases

An increasing number of enterprises, including payment networks, stablecoin issuers, and leading financial institutions, are choosing Solana to power their mission-critical infrastructure.

With its high throughput, low fees, fast settlement, and growing ecosystem maturity, Solana offers the performance and scalability required for real-world applications at a global scale.

VISA Chooses Solana for Predictable Payment Fees

The growing interest from institutional and enterprise sectors in blockchain technology is evident, particularly regarding payments and digital currencies. Visa, one of the first major payment networks to experiment with stablecoin settlements on Ethereum, has recently expanded its pilot program to include both issuer and acquirer partners as well as Solana. According to Visa’s own analysis, Solana is “a blockchain whose innovative design enables it to process over 2k transactions per second.”

In Visa’s comprehensive review of Solana, they outline the network’s potential for payments and success in Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot. In the review, they note:

“[Solana] holds promise for payments due to its speed, scalability, and low transaction costs, helping to make it a good candidate for efficient blockchain settlement rails using stablecoins like USDC.”

The report also compares Solana’s capabilities to other leading blockchains and finds that Solana consistently scores the highest.

While Solana’s current throughput doesn’t match Visa’s own capabilities of 65,000 TPS, it has the potential to scale beyond these current limitations. Nevertheless, Visa, a company responsible for processing a total volume of $14.5 trillion through over 200 countries worldwide, believes Solana to be a “compelling value proposition for payments.”

Visa’s interest in Solana is part of a broader trend of corporate adoption. Shopify, for example, has integrated with Solana Pay, opening up millions of merchants to a more dynamic and efficient payment option for their customers. Discord has also added Solana integration for linked roles, a first for any blockchain. Google Cloud is also operating a block-producing validator on Solana.

As blockchain technology continues to develop and the ecosystem grows, Solana’s high throughput, low latency, low transaction fees, and parallel processing capabilities make it a candidate worth considering for enterprises to integrate into their operations.

PayPal Expands its PYUSD Stablecoin to Solana

In May 2024, PayPal launched its stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), on Solana, marking the token’s first major expansion since its initial debut on Ethereum in August 2023. Issued in partnership with Paxos Trust Company, PYUSD is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. Treasuries, and other cash equivalents, and is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

PayPal USD’s expansion to Solana was driven by the network’s speed, low fees, and advanced token infrastructure. Solana’s high throughput and low-cost environment offer clear advantages for stablecoins used in everyday payments and commercial applications.

More importantly, Solana's introduction of token extensions provided the technical foundation for PYUSD to implement features previously unavailable on Ethereum.

PYUSD is among the first major stablecoins to fully adopt Solana’s token extensions, which provide more than a dozen audited extensions, including:

• Confidential Balances: allowing transaction amounts to remain hidden from the public while remaining auditable by regulators, mirroring privacy standards common in traditional payments.
• Transfer Hooks: Enabling tokens to trigger on-chain programs during transfers, laying the groundwork for programmable finance and compliance automation.
• Permanent Delegate: Allowing designated authorities to maintain control over token accounts for compliance actions such as freezing or seizing assets, supporting regulatory enforcement where necessary.

Solana's token extension framework is fully open source, audited, and production-ready, making it an ideal environment for compliant, institutional-grade stablecoins.

For PayPal, the Solana integration represents not just a cost and performance upgrade, but a strategic shift toward more programmable, regulation-friendly stablecoin infrastructure.

BlackRock Expands Tokenized Digital Liquidity Fund to Solana

In March 2025, BlackRock and Securitize announced the expansion of the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) to the Solana blockchain. Initially launched in March 2024, BUIDL has quickly become the largest fund in the tokenized money market sector, surpassing $2.9 billion in assets under management.

The fund provides qualified investors with access to U.S. dollar yields on-chain, featuring flexible custody options, daily dividend distributions, and real-time peer-to-peer transfers.

By expanding to Solana, BUIDL benefits from the network’s hallmark strengths of high throughput, low latency, and minimal transaction costs, making it well-suited for tokenized financial products.

Cross-chain interoperability for BUIDL is enabled by Wormhole, allowing for seamless and secure token movement between blockchains.

According to Carlos Domingo, Co-founder and CEO of Securitize,

“As the market for RWAs and tokenized treasuries gains momentum, expanding BUIDL to Solana—a blockchain known for its speed, scalability, and cost efficiency—is a natural next step.”

Stripe Chooses Solana for Pay with Crypto

Stripe made headlines at its 2024 developer conference by showcasing “Pay with Crypto” powered by Solana. In a live demo, Stripe illustrated how USDC payments on Solana could settle instantly with minimal fees. Stripe’s decision to support Solana highlights the network’s unmatched speed, low cost, and readiness for real-time commerce.

Anchorage’s Federally Chartered Crypto Bank Adds Solana Support

Anchorage Digital Bank, the only federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S., has significantly deepened its support for the Solana ecosystem.

Building on its existing custody and staking services for SOL, Anchorage now offers secure custody for SPL tokens. This expansion enables institutions to safely hold and manage a broad range of Solana-based assets within a regulated framework.

Anchorage also announced support for USDG, a next-generation stablecoin from the Global Dollar Network, now available on Solana. Institutions can mint, burn, settle, and custody USDG directly through Anchorage’s platform, and earn stablecoin rewards via Anchorage’s regulated infrastructure.

Other Enterprise Use Cases for Solana

From tokenized treasuries to regulated stablecoins and private credit funds, leading financial firms are increasingly turning to Solana to bring real-world assets on-chain and streamline capital markets infrastructure. Below are notable examples:

• Franklin Templeton: In February 2025, Franklin Templeton brought its OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) to Solana. With over $700 million in assets under management, the fund provides investors with direct access to U.S. Treasury yields on-chain.
• AgoraUSD (Van Eck): AgoraUSD (AUSD) is a fiat-backed stablecoin collateralized by cash, U.S. Treasury bonds, and overnight repurchase agreements and issued by Agora, a company founded by a member of the VanEck asset management family.
• Société Générale: Through its blockchain subsidiary SG-Forge, French banking giant Société Générale launched EuroCV on Solana. EuroCV is the first stablecoin issued by a European bank under the new MiCA regulatory framework.
• Hamilton Lane: Alternative asset giant Hamilton Lane announced the launch of a private credit fund on Solana. The firm’s Senior Credit Opportunities Fund (SCOPE) is accessible on-chain, allowing qualified investors to gain exposure to private credit markets.

Given these developments, it is clear that Solana is becoming an increasingly popular choice for organizations seeking to improve operational efficiency, scalability, and user experience.

These developments underscore Solana’s growing reputation as a blockchain that can meet the diverse needs of institutions.

Conclusion

Enterprises face a myriad of challenges and opportunities in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. From scalability and efficiency to security and decentralization, the demands are ever-increasing. Solana emerges as the only blockchain built for scale, designed to meet and exceed these demands. Its high throughput, low latency, and affordable transaction fees make it a self-evident choice for any enterprise looking to integrate with blockchains.

Combined with Solana’s steadfast focus on environmentalism, robust security features, and the ability to create customized, permissioned environments, it is clear why Solana is becoming the go-to blockchain for enterprises.

Whether you’re an existing blockchain project or a traditional enterprise looking to explore the benefits of blockchains, Solana is the perfect solution. The availability of innovations such as parallel processing and state compression in a single environment is unique to Solana.

As blockchain continues to disrupt multiple industries from banking to payments and supply chain management, the question is no longer “Why should I use a blockchain?” but rather “Why shouldn’t I use Solana?”

At Helius, we're here to help you explore what Solana can do for your enterprise today. Don’t miss the opportunity to be at the forefront of this technological revolution. 

Additional Resources

• Solana Website
• Solana Enterprise
• Solana Permissioned Environments