# Solana Breakpoint 2024 Highlights Asian Market Surge
Solana Breakpoint 2024 took center stage at the Suntec Convention Center in Singapore on October 20-21. An event of monumental scale, Breakpoint often has an immediate impact on Solana token prices due to heightened anticipation and significant announcements. This year was no exception, with SOL prices rising 9 percent to reach $151 just before the event commenced.
On the heels of the TOKEN2049 event, Breakpoint attracted a substantial crowd, underlining Solana’s strategic entry into Asian markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan. The region has seen a marked increase in Solana users. Lily Liu, Chair of the Solana Foundation, noted, “Forty percent of Solana users, 50 percent of last year’s hackathon participants, and 70 percent of global liquidity originate from the Asian market,” explaining the rationale behind hosting the event in Asia.
Initially a North American-centric ecosystem, Solana is now expanding its footprint into Asia. The event reflected this shift, showcasing a significant number of North American developers and builders alongside growing participation from the Asian community. However, many Asian participants have ties to North America, either through education or residency, suggesting a blend of cultural understanding that benefits both regions.
Jae-oh Seo, co-founder of Fidelion, observed, “Compared to last year, there’s a notable increase in builders discussing actual market-ready products. Interest in Solana from Web2 and non-Solana chains has surged dramatically, signifying a bright future for Solana.” Fidelion, a prominent Solana-based NFT project, was the sole domestic project with a booth at Breakpoint, alongside BONK.
# Institutional Interest in Solana Heats Up
Breakpoint revealed plans by several traditional financial institutions to invest in Solana, particularly with the anticipation of a ‘Solana ETF’. European institutional and fund interest in Solana is growing, indicating increasing collaborations between Solana blockchain and financial institutions.
Franklin Templeton announced plans to launch a mutual fund on the Solana network, while Societe Generale Forge is set to issue a euro-tied stablecoin, EURCV, on Solana. CitiBank also revealed it is exploring opportunities with Solana’s technology, considering its potential use in the Citi Integrated Digital Assets Platform (CIDAP).
PayPal has begun integrating its stablecoin, PYUSD, onto the Solana blockchain, while Coinbase plans to introduce cbBTC, a wrapped Bitcoin asset, on Solana. This will enable Bitcoin holders to leverage decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols on the Solana network.
BONK, a leading meme coin within the Solana ecosystem, announced plans to launch the world’s first meme-coin-based ETP (Exchange Traded Product) in the U.S., allowing institutional investors to engage with BONK.
# Addressing Transaction Failures on Solana Network
A crucial development during Breakpoint was the activation of ‘Frankendancer’, a demo version (v0.1) of Firedancer on the mainnet, with the final version now released. Firedancer, developed by Jump Crypto, aims to resolve persistent issues within the Solana network, such as transaction failures and scalability challenges.
Data from Dune Dashboard indicated that from mid-March to early April, 70% of requested transactions failed on Solana, with 75% failure in non-voting transactions. The surge in meme-coin trading, driven by trading bots, overwhelmed the network, reflecting Solana’s vulnerability due to low fees encouraging high transaction volumes.
Firedancer, boasting a capacity to process up to 1 million transactions per second (TPS) and reducing state data costs by 1000 times using zero-knowledge compression, promises significant technical advancements. Operating independently from the existing Solana validator client enhances network security and decentralization.
Makdah Laura Mary, Solana Foundation’s Senior Software/Infrastructure Engineer, emphasized, “The Firedancer client, optimized at the hardware level, has been launched on the testnet to further enhance Solana validators’ speed and performance. This marks one of the final testing phases before the mainnet release.” Mary’s remarks underscored the event’s success highlighted by formative announcements and insightful sessions.
Breakpoint 2024 not only illustrated Solana’s growing influence in the Asian market but also highlighted its strategic moves to attract institutional investment and resolve technical challenges, setting the stage for a pivotal year ahead.
