Why Solana Needs More Than a DAT: The Institutional Capital Strategy That Could Define Crypto's Next Chapter

The digital asset treasury company phenomenon has captured Wall Street's imagination, transforming how institutional capital flows into cryptocurrency. Yet as Bitcoin and Ethereum DATs proliferate and attract billions in market capitalization, Solana finds itself in an unexpected position—trailing significantly in a game it cannot afford to lose. Anna Yuan, founder of Pirina and former stablecoins lead at the Solana Foundation, joined Lightspeed to articulate why the Solana ecosystem must urgently develop a coherent DAT strategy and how this seemingly capitalistic endeavor could become one of the most powerful tools for ecosystem growth and decentralization.

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The DAT Landscape: Solana's Uncomfortable Position

The numbers tell a stark story about where Solana stands in the digital asset treasury landscape. According to the Blockworks DAT dashboard, of the top ten digital asset treasury companies by market capitalization, five hold Bitcoin, four hold Ethereum, and just one holds Solana. More troublingly, the largest Solana DAT—Upexi—ranks as only the tenth largest overall, meaning even the fourth-largest Ethereum DAT commands a larger market presence than Solana's top player.

This isn't merely about market cap rankings. The gap represents a fundamental difference in institutional capital access and Wall Street credibility. While MicroStrategy has become synonymous with Bitcoin treasury strategies and Tom Lee has emerged as Ethereum's institutional champion, Solana lacks an equivalent figure who can command attention on CNBC and articulate a compelling investment thesis to traditional finance audiences.

Yuan attributes this disparity to several structural factors. First, market capitalization naturally plays a role—Solana isn't the third-largest cryptocurrency, so some delta is expected. However, the gap exceeds what market cap alone would explain, pointing to deeper ecosystem characteristics that have shaped the current landscape.

The Consensus Pipeline and Ethereum's Structural Advantage

One of the most significant factors explaining Ethereum's DAT success traces back to organizational history that Solana simply doesn't possess. Yuan, who briefly worked at Consensus in 2018, identifies the firm as a crucial talent magnet that drew Wall Street veterans into the Ethereum ecosystem during its formative years.

"That was the home of talent magnet," Yuan explains. "A bunch of people from New York put their stratified jobs, joined Consensus like five, seven years later, decided to come out to do that. So some of the biggest DATs came from that. Solana simply didn't have it."

This pipeline effect created a pool of experienced finance professionals who understood both traditional capital markets and Ethereum's technological vision. When the DAT opportunity emerged, these individuals possessed the credibility, networks, and operational expertise to execute quickly. Solana, being a younger ecosystem without an equivalent institution feeding talent into its ranks, finds itself with a significantly smaller pool of potential DAT leaders.

The absence of this institutional feeder system means Solana must either attract Wall Street veterans to champion its cause or develop homegrown leaders who can bridge the gap between crypto-native expertise and traditional finance credibility—neither of which happens overnight.

Initial Ecosystem Resistance to DATs

Beyond structural factors, Yuan reveals that the Solana ecosystem initially exhibited significant resistance to the DAT concept. Many community members and even foundation leadership viewed the strategy with skepticism, seeing it as unnecessarily capitalistic or contrary to crypto idealism.

"A lot of people in the ecosystem sided as not like anti-crypto idealism, but a bit too capitalist and sort of rejected, intuitively rejected the construct as beneficial to the ecosystem," Yuan recalls from her conversations with former colleagues and foundation leadership.

This resistance reflects a philosophical tension within crypto communities. The decentralization ethos that drives much of the Solana community can seem at odds with creating publicly traded vehicles that operate within traditional financial frameworks. Yuan argues this perspective misses the strategic importance of DATs as tools for ecosystem development.

"I think it's a game. It's a tool we have to have as an ecosystem and a game we cannot lose because if used correctly, it can be highly beneficial to DeFi and to funding developers, funding teams, and the access to capital is extremely important."

The Capital Efficiency Argument

Yuan's perspective on DATs was shaped significantly by her experience leading stablecoins at the Solana Foundation, where she witnessed firsthand the high cost of capital and the institutional infrastructure gaps that plagued the ecosystem.

"In 2023, most of these market makers and centralized exchanges did not support Solana as an asset, or oftentimes they support a Solana asset, but majority of them did not support Solana stablecoins," she explains. "So if we didn't have that liquidity, it didn't flow into Solana."

This experience crystallized an important insight: the majority of institutional capital exists on traditional rails, not on-chain. Pension funds, hedge funds, and major asset managers control enormous pools of capital but face significant barriers to direct crypto custody. They either cannot or will not solve the operational challenges of holding cryptocurrency directly.

DATs provide an elegant solution to this problem by allowing traditional investors to gain crypto exposure through familiar equity instruments. Rather than waiting for institutions to develop crypto custody capabilities—a process proving slower than the ecosystem would like—DATs meet institutional capital where it already exists.

The Vision: A Hub and Spoke Model for Solana DATs

Rather than advocating for a single dominant DAT modeled after MicroStrategy, Yuan proposes a more distributed approach that aligns with Solana's decentralization values. She envisions a "hub and spoke" model with multiple DATs operating around the world, each serving as a regional engine for ecosystem growth.

"You have a hub and spoke and eventually like a more decentralized end game of Solana ecosystem companies that are for-profit or of various structures across the world, around the world, at various markets," Yuan describes. "For example, you have one in Japan, one in India, one in UAE, one in Europe, a couple in US, like all around the world, they're tapping into the local capital markets."

Under this model, each DAT would function somewhat like a regional Solana Foundation, with a mandate to grow the ecosystem while generating returns for shareholders. The alignment becomes automatic: because these companies hold Solana and their valuations depend on Solana's success, they have built-in incentives to support ecosystem development.

This structure also addresses a persistent challenge that foundations face with traditional grant-making. When foundations distribute grants, there's always concern that recipients might dispose of granted assets and move to another ecosystem. DATs, by contrast, have mandates that "they almost cannot change or at least cannot change on a whim," creating more durable ecosystem alignment.

Finding the Right Balance: Neither Too Centralized Nor Too Fragmented

Yuan is careful to articulate the boundaries of her vision. The optimal outcome lies somewhere between extremes: Solana doesn't want a single DAT holding a super-majority of supply (unlike Bitcoin, where MicroStrategy's dominance makes more sense given Bitcoin's digital gold narrative), but it also doesn't want twenty or thirty highly fragmented DATs competing for liquidity.

"You kind of want, let's say, more than three, less than ten around the world that can achieve billion dollar or over 2-3% supply holding," Yuan suggests. The reasoning is practical: volatility trading strategies and capital raising mechanisms like convertible notes require sufficient scale to execute effectively. Fragmented DATs would lack the liquidity depth to employ these tools.

Yuan also emphasizes that foundation leadership should not directly operate DATs. While acknowledging that Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation, would be an excellent candidate given her background at KKR and McKinsey, Yuan argues it's better for her to remain at the foundation given the numerous initiatives underway.

"There's a ton of initiatives that the foundation is working on, and she's like the de facto spokesperson and leader for foundation. Now for her to leave, it might derail or it might block where some of the foundation-only initiatives are going."

Who Should Be Solana's Michael Saylor?

The search for a charismatic leader who can champion Solana to Wall Street audiences emerges as a critical gap. Yuan considers several possibilities, including the Multicoin Capital team and Galaxy Digital, which accumulated significant Solana positions post-FTX. Kyle Samani's team at Multicoin receives particular mention as potentially strong candidates.

However, Yuan acknowledges that the ideal candidate likely isn't yet highly visible within the Solana ecosystem. "If we were to find somebody that Wall Street buys, I don't think that person is highly visible in the ecosystem yet. Maybe they've been a long time bull or investor in the ecosystem, but they're at least not visible and out there already making a career on Solana."

An unexpected name surfaces during the discussion: Anthony Scaramucci, who authored a book about Solana. While Scaramucci brings exactly the kind of Wall Street credibility and media presence that could drive a successful DAT, Yuan notes that his public conflicts with the Trump administration might create complications in the current political environment.

"You're a journalist, you know how Solana has always tried to stay just in our technologist area," Yuan observes. "But when you're touching DATs and you're touching big Wall Street capital, you inevitably run into a little bit of the politics side of things."

More Than Just Holding: The DeFi Integration Thesis

Yuan's vision for Solana DATs extends far beyond simply accumulating SOL on a balance sheet. Unlike Bitcoin DATs, which function essentially as digital gold holding companies, Solana DATs have the opportunity—and arguably the obligation—to actively participate in the ecosystem.

"Soul and ETH, a lot of these assets, are not like Bitcoin. You have to use them," Yuan emphasizes. The implication is clear: investors seeking purely passive exposure should purchase ETFs. DATs command higher fees precisely because active management teams can deploy capital in ways that generate additional value.

The simplest application involves converting holdings into liquid staking tokens and deploying them into DeFi protocols. Yuan notes that institutional concerns about smart contract risk often miss important context: staking is built into the Solana protocol itself, and major liquid staking providers like Lido, Jito, and Marinade are so systemically important that their failure would essentially mean the entire chain has failed.

More sophisticated strategies could include delta-neutral funding rate trades during market conditions where 100-200% directional exposure isn't optimal. On-chain tools exist that provide leveraged SOL exposure while freeing up capital for stablecoin yield farming, effectively splitting a single dollar of capital into multiple yield-generating positions.

Acquiring Ecosystem Tokens Through Usage

Perhaps the most innovative aspect of Yuan's vision involves DATs accumulating exposure to ecosystem tokens—not through direct purchases, but through protocol usage. Many Solana protocols distribute governance tokens through liquidity mining programs. A DAT actively participating in DeFi would naturally accumulate these tokens as a byproduct of its activities.

"Some of them are running continuous liquidity mining incentives. As a DAT, you don't need to sell those assets. But if you're LPing into Raydium, if you're using Drift or some of the other protocols, you're naturally getting token exposure, which is awesome."

This approach offers several advantages. It reduces the optics problem of a publicly traded company purchasing speculative altcoins. It aligns the DAT's interests with the protocols it uses. And it creates a more organic form of ecosystem investment that doesn't require explaining why a public company is buying "trick coins," as Yuan colorfully describes potential investor skepticism.

Yuan also notes the opportunity for DATs to acquire locked tokens directly from protocol foundations at discounted prices. The permanent capital nature of DATs—unlike funds that must return capital to investors—makes them ideal vehicles for holding illiquid positions through extended lockup periods.

The Ethereum Comeback and Competitive Pressure

Yuan expresses some concern about Ethereum's recent resurgence, which has been significantly driven by DAT activity. Ethereum's price nearly crossed its all-time high in the summer of 2025, fueled largely by institutional buying through digital asset treasury companies.

"I maybe feel a little bit stressed out for our ecosystem because Ethereum has long been the chain, the ledger for accounting for assets," Yuan admits. By traditional institutional metrics—total value issued on the ledger, stablecoin market share, DeFi TVL—Ethereum maintains significant advantages.

More concerning is how institutions evaluate blockchain networks. While the Solana community celebrates higher velocity, more applications, and more users, institutions remain skeptical. Bot activity can artificially inflate these metrics, and similar claims have been made by numerous chains that subsequently failed to find product-market fit.

"I think Sol is at a point where it's reached the tipping point of it will be here. It has Lindy effect," Yuan assesses. "I don't think it's reached a point of it has found product-market fit. And oftentimes, as Solana native, we might think that Solana is here to stay, it's super bullish, we see everything happening. From institution's perspective, they don't see it that way."

The Convergence of TradFi and DeFi

Yuan situates the DAT phenomenon within a broader thesis about the inevitable convergence of traditional finance and decentralized finance. Her views have evolved from early-days decentralization maximalism to a more pragmatic acceptance of centralized components in on-chain systems.

"The really OG DeFi users would look at Ethena or Sky or Maple and be like, this is purely set, this is extremely centralized, there's so many off-chain components. But I think this is where it's going, and I'm fine with it. I think it's actually a good thing."

The reasoning is straightforward: there aren't enough intrinsic high-quality assets on-chain to support the financial system crypto aspires to build. Real-world assets and traditional liquidity layers—often involving centralizing forces—are necessary bridges to mainstream adoption.

DATs represent one mechanism in this convergence, opening "floodgates of capital flowing both ways." They compress capital costs for crypto projects while simultaneously compressing yields as more institutional money enters the space. This convergence benefits the ecosystem even as it introduces elements that purists might find uncomfortable.

The Permanence of the DAT Trade

One of Yuan's most important arguments addresses skepticism about whether DATs represent a sustainable phenomenon or a temporary market anomaly. She likens the DAT moment to the emergence of liquid staking tokens—a zero-to-one innovation that fundamentally changes market structure.

"Staking was a way to secure the network, but also, frankly, you don't want people to sell your tokens. And then some guy showed up and was like, yeah, I can just tokenize that. And now you can trade it. If that's a moment you can't go back to, you can't go back to only native staking."

Similarly, Yuan argues that DATs have created a structural change in how capital can access crypto exposure. Some DATs will fail, some will face hostile takeovers, and the premium multiples will likely compress from current elevated levels. However, some structural premium should persist simply because the vehicle enables access that alternatives cannot provide.

The differentiation among DATs will increasingly depend on what value-added activities they pursue beyond merely holding assets. Whether that's operating best-in-class validator services, developing regional relationships with sovereign wealth funds, or pioneering innovative DeFi strategies, DATs will need to justify their premium through demonstrated capabilities.

Addressing the Memecoin Narrative

Any discussion of Solana's institutional positioning must grapple with the memecoin association that colors many external perceptions. Yuan acknowledges this represents a real challenge: when less-engaged Wall Street observers think of Solana, they often recall the Trump memecoin launch rather than technical innovations or serious financial applications.

Yuan proposes reframing this narrative: "Solana is a higher performance infrastructure and therefore more of the consumer applications at higher volume will go through Solana. That is an addition, not a subtraction to being able to sustain and safely, securely record any amounts of assets on the ledger."

The memecoin activity actually demonstrates that Solana's user experience works. Similar gambling applications were being built on Base, Ethereum, and other networks, but users consistently chose Solana. This pattern—consumers preferring Solana for high-velocity applications—validates the network's technical capabilities.

Yuan draws a parallel to internet history: "The internet started with porn and a lot of things. I think on-chain speculation and, in the end, it's like on-chain online gambling—maybe it's seen as unsightly in the beginning or not attractive as a place to store real assets. But as we've seen with internet and video streaming, in the end, it becomes highly scalable and used for proper use cases."

From Memecoins to Mainstream: The Conversion Funnel

Yuan presents evidence that memecoin activity serves as an effective user acquisition funnel. In her hiring process for Pirina, she encountered developers who initially came to Solana because of memecoins but subsequently decided to build careers in the ecosystem.

"The overall population, the on-chain population and the GDP, is accruing to non-memecoin financial use cases," Yuan observes. Projects like Helium, Grass, and Render represent companies that could have been traditional businesses but chose to build on Solana—in some cases migrating from other chains—because that's where active traders and users are concentrated.

The trading volume and user activity, regardless of what's being traded, signals to asset issuers that Solana is where liquidity and attention reside. This becomes a self-reinforcing dynamic: more traders attract more interesting assets, which attract more traders.

Ethereum's DAT Strategy: A Case Study

The success of Ethereum DATs in 2025 provides both a template and a cautionary tale for Solana. Tom Lee has emerged as the charismatic face of Ethereum treasury strategies, and his ability to articulate a compelling investment thesis has driven significant institutional interest.

Yet Yuan notes that Ethereum's DAT-driven rally doesn't perfectly align with the narrative Ethereum has historically told about itself. The story has never been that Wall Street would buy ETH because of an arbitrage opportunity in publicly traded treasury companies. Instead, Ethereum positioned itself as the global financial settlement layer, the platform for serious institutional applications.

The DAT buying represents something simpler: a profitable trade that investors are pursuing. Many hedge funds trading these instruments care nothing about Ethereum's technical roadmap—they're simply capturing volatility and arbitrage opportunities. This disconnect between stated narrative and actual buying motivation may prove fragile over time.

The Risk of Opt-Out

While acknowledging legitimate concerns about DATs, Yuan argues strongly that opting out carries its own risks. If Solana ignores the DAT opportunity while competitors embrace it, the ecosystem foregoes access to lower-cost capital at a critical moment in its development.

"I think the best outcome is for us to all work together as different hubs of a loosely connecting, semi-decentralized force instead of like both ends of the spectrum," Yuan suggests. The worst outcomes involve either the foundation directly operating DATs (creating the subsidiaries problem) or completely rejecting DATs and their associated capital access.

The competitive dynamics make this particularly urgent. If Ethereum DATs continue attracting institutional capital while Solana DATs languish, Ethereum gains structural advantages in building the DeFi infrastructure that will matter long-term. Path dependency could lock in competitive positions that become difficult to reverse.

Practical Implementation: The More Than DAT Playbook

Yuan's article "SOL Needs More Than DAT" outlines specific tactical recommendations for Solana DAT operators. The playbook emphasizes active participation in the ecosystem rather than passive holding strategies.

Converting SOL holdings to liquid staking tokens represents the most obvious first step. Beyond this, DATs should explore sophisticated DeFi strategies including leveraged positions, delta-neutral trades, and liquidity provision across multiple protocols. The goal is generating yields that exceed what passive holding could achieve, justifying the management fees that DATs charge.

Yuan also advocates for DATs to develop specialized capabilities that create moats. Operating institutional-grade validator services, building relationships with regional regulatory bodies, or developing proprietary trading strategies all represent potential differentiation paths.

The Premium Compression Question

One persistent concern about DATs involves the sustainability of premium valuations. Currently, many DATs trade at significant premiums to their net asset value—market participants value the crypto holdings at more than their market price. This dynamic seems difficult to sustain indefinitely.

Yuan acknowledges that premium compression is likely inevitable. As more DATs enter the market and the trade becomes crowded, premiums should naturally decline toward more sustainable levels. Some DATs will fail entirely, either through operational missteps, market downturns, or competitive pressure.

However, she argues that some structural premium should persist because DATs provide genuine value: "There's inherent value to having that vehicle versus not." The premium represents compensation for providing access that institutions cannot otherwise obtain. As long as regulatory and operational barriers prevent large institutions from directly holding crypto, vehicles that bridge this gap will command some valuation premium.

The Founder-Led DAT Problem

Yuan briefly addresses the situation with Joe McCann, who had been pursuing a Solana DAT before the deal fell through. While she doesn't speculate on the specific circumstances, she notes that finding the right leadership for Solana DATs has proven challenging.

Joe Lubin's involvement in an Ethereum DAT, despite being an Ethereum co-founder, represents one model—though Yuan emphasizes that direct foundation or labs leadership operating DATs would be inappropriate for Solana at its current stage. The distinction lies in timing and ecosystem maturity.

For smaller tokens, having original team members launch DATs may be acceptable. For an ecosystem of Solana's scale and importance, maintaining separation between non-profit foundation activities and for-profit DAT operations becomes more critical.

International Expansion Through DATs

The hub-and-spoke model Yuan proposes carries particular advantages for international growth. Each regional DAT could serve as a beachhead for Solana adoption in its geography, building relationships with local regulators, capital allocators, and business communities.

This approach complements rather than replaces foundation international initiatives. Yuan notes that foundation leadership made significant progress in regions like Abu Dhabi during 2024, but regional DATs could accelerate and sustain this momentum while freeing foundation resources for other priorities.

The structure also provides natural resilience against regulatory risk in any single jurisdiction. With DATs operating across multiple regulatory frameworks, the ecosystem becomes less dependent on any single market's regulatory posture.

Integration with Internet Capital Markets Vision

Yuan frames the DAT opportunity within her broader thesis about Solana as infrastructure for internet capital markets. The connection isn't merely rhetorical—DATs could serve as crucial bridges between traditional capital and on-chain financial systems.

"DATs are an excellent permanent capital vehicle for deploying assets and liquidity to internet capital markets in a way that would fuel the growth of the application layer, further cementing depths of liquidity, therefore making it a more attractive venue for people to invest and trade assets."

The vision extends beyond current applications. Traditional finance has developed sophisticated financial instruments—convertible notes, preferred shares, at-the-money offerings—through decades of legal engineering. Each instrument requires expensive legal structuring and banking fees to execute.

On-chain systems could theoretically replicate these instruments at a fraction of the cost, executing automatically through smart contracts rather than legal documentation. DATs operating at the intersection of traditional and decentralized finance could pioneer this translation work, demonstrating how legacy instruments can be reimagined for on-chain execution.

The Sellside Research Gap

Implicit in the discussion is the challenge of institutional awareness. Major sellside research coverage drives significant institutional capital allocation, and Solana has historically received less attention than Bitcoin or Ethereum in traditional financial research.

DATs could help close this gap by creating publicly traded securities that sellside analysts can cover using familiar frameworks. As analysts build models for Solana DATs, they necessarily develop views on Solana's prospects, potentially driving broader institutional attention to the ecosystem.

This coverage flywheel represents another mechanism through which DATs could accelerate institutional adoption, beyond their direct capital deployment activities.

Validator Economics and DAT Synergies

Yuan hints at potential synergies between DAT operations and validator economics. A DAT holding significant SOL would naturally consider operating validator infrastructure, capturing staking rewards while contributing to network security.

Institutional-grade validator operations require significant operational expertise and capital investment. DATs, with their access to public market capital and mandate for active management, could potentially upgrade the professionalism of Solana's validator set while generating returns for shareholders.

This represents another example of how Solana DATs could differ from Bitcoin DATs. Simply holding Bitcoin and waiting for price appreciation makes sense for a digital gold narrative. Operating infrastructure that strengthens the network while generating yield makes sense for a high-performance blockchain narrative.

The Urgency of Action

Yuan conveys clear urgency about the competitive window for Solana DAT development. While acknowledging that some foundation members have recently become more aware of the opportunity, she emphasizes that time matters.

"Ethereum made an amazing comeback this year. They extend. I maybe feel a little bit stressed out for our ecosystem."

The DAT opportunity isn't permanent. First movers are establishing positions, building relationships with institutional capital allocators, and developing operational capabilities. Solana's later start means catching up rather than leading, and further delays could make the gap insurmountable.

Building the Ecosystem of Ecosystem Companies

The ultimate vision Yuan articulates involves creating a self-reinforcing ecosystem of Solana-aligned companies that strengthen the network through their competitive self-interest. Rather than relying solely on foundation grants and labs development, this model harnesses profit motives in service of ecosystem growth.

Each DAT, pursuing returns for its shareholders, would naturally undertake activities that benefit the broader Solana ecosystem. Market development, DeFi participation, validator operation, institutional relationship building—all become profitable activities that aligned companies would pursue regardless of foundation direction.

This represents a form of progressive decentralization that complements rather than replaces existing structures. The foundation continues its non-profit mission while for-profit entities handle activities more appropriate for commercial structures.

Conclusion: A Call for Strategic Engagement

Yuan's message is ultimately one of strategic engagement rather than passive acceptance. The DAT phenomenon is happening regardless of whether Solana participates enthusiastically, skeptically, or not at all. The question facing the ecosystem is whether to shape this development or be shaped by it.

The risks of engagement are real: some DATs will fail, premium multiples will likely compress, and for-profit entities may occasionally pursue interests that conflict with broader ecosystem goals. But the risks of non-engagement may be larger: ceding competitive ground to other ecosystems, foregoing access to institutional capital, and missing an opportunity to decentralize ecosystem development in a novel way.

For Solana specifically, the moment seems particularly opportune. The ecosystem has demonstrated product-market fit with users and developers. What it needs now is the institutional capital and credibility to solidify its position as critical infrastructure for the future of finance. DATs, properly structured and operated, could provide exactly this bridge.

Facts + Figures

• Of the top 10 digital asset treasury companies by market capitalization, five hold Bitcoin, four hold Ethereum, and only one holds Solana

• Upexi, the largest Solana DAT, ranks as only the 10th largest DAT overall—smaller than the 4th largest Ethereum DAT

• MicroStrategy pioneered the DAT trade and remains the dominant Bitcoin treasury company

• Tom Lee has emerged as the primary institutional champion for Ethereum DATs in 2025

• Anna Yuan worked at Consensus in 2018 and spent approximately two and a half years at Solana Labs and Foundation leading stablecoins

• In 2023, most major market makers and centralized exchanges did not support Solana stablecoins, limiting institutional liquidity

• Yuan proposes an optimal structure of "more than three, less than ten" Solana DATs globally, each holding 2-3% of supply

• Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation, has a background at KKR and McKinsey, making her technically well-suited for DAT leadership

• Joe McCann's Solana DAT deal fell through, leaving the ecosystem without a prominent founder-led treasury company

• Helium, Grass, and Render represent "Web 2.5" companies that chose to build on Solana or migrated from other chains

• Ethereum nearly crossed its all-time high in summer 2025, driven significantly by DAT buying activity

• Yuan describes the DAT moment as a "zero to one" innovation comparable to the emergence of liquid staking tokens

• Anthony Scaramucci authored a book about Solana in 2025, making him a potential but politically complicated DAT leader candidate

• Multiple developers interviewed by Yuan came to Solana originally because of memecoins but stayed to build serious applications

Questions Answered

What is a DAT and why does it matter for cryptocurrency?

A digital asset treasury company (DAT) is a publicly traded company whose primary business involves holding cryptocurrency on its balance sheet. These vehicles have become important because they allow traditional investors—including pension funds, hedge funds, and other institutional allocators who cannot or will not directly custody cryptocurrency—to gain exposure through familiar equity instruments. MicroStrategy pioneered this model for Bitcoin, and the trade has expanded to include Ethereum and Solana treasury companies. DATs matter because they unlock access to institutional capital that would otherwise remain on the sidelines.

Why are Solana DATs smaller than Bitcoin and Ethereum DATs?

Solana DATs lag behind competitors due to several structural factors. First, Solana's market capitalization is smaller than Bitcoin and Ethereum, which somewhat explains the gap. Second, Solana is a younger ecosystem that lacks the pipeline of Wall Street veterans that Ethereum developed through organizations like Consensus. Third, the Solana community initially exhibited resistance to DATs, viewing them as overly capitalistic or contrary to crypto idealism. Finally, no charismatic leader like Michael Saylor (Bitcoin) or Tom Lee (Ethereum) has emerged to champion Solana to institutional audiences.

Who could be Solana's Michael Saylor?

Finding Solana's institutional champion remains an open challenge. Potential candidates include the Multicoin Capital team, Galaxy Digital leadership (who accumulated significant Solana positions post-FTX), and Kyle Samani's team. Anthony Scaramucci, who wrote a book about Solana, represents an interesting but politically complicated option given his conflicts with the Trump administration. Yuan suggests the ideal candidate likely isn't yet highly visible in the Solana ecosystem—they may be a long-time bull or investor who hasn't yet made a public career focused on Solana.

How should Solana DATs differ from Bitcoin DATs?

Bitcoin DATs can function as simple holding companies because Bitcoin positions itself as digital gold—a scarce asset that doesn't need to be actively used. Solana is fundamentally different because it's the native asset of a high-performance blockchain designed for active use. Solana DATs should convert holdings to liquid staking tokens, participate in DeFi protocols, potentially operate validator infrastructure, and pursue active management strategies including delta-neutral trades and leveraged positions. Investors seeking purely passive exposure should buy ETFs; DATs justify their fees through active management.

What is the optimal structure for Solana's DAT ecosystem?

Yuan advocates for a "hub and spoke" model with more than three but fewer than ten major DATs operating globally. This avoids the extremes of having a single dominant entity (inappropriate for an ecosystem that values decentralization) or having twenty to thirty fragmented DATs (insufficient scale for sophisticated capital markets strategies). Each DAT should target roughly 2-3% of supply and operate in different geographic regions, effectively serving as regional Solana ecosystem development companies while pursuing shareholder returns.

Does the memecoin narrative hurt Solana's institutional appeal?

The memecoin association represents a real challenge for Solana's institutional positioning, but Yuan argues it can be reframed positively. High-velocity consumer applications—including speculation and trading—naturally gravitated to Solana because of its superior user experience. Similar applications were being built on other chains, but users chose Solana. This validates the network's technical capabilities and demonstrates real user demand. Historical precedent suggests that consumer applications often start with gambling and entertainment before evolving to more "serious" use cases—the internet started with porn before becoming critical business infrastructure.

Why can't Solana just skip the DAT game entirely?

Opting out of DATs carries significant risks. If Ethereum DATs continue attracting institutional capital while Solana ignores the opportunity, Ethereum gains structural advantages in building long-term DeFi infrastructure. Capital access affects ecosystem development velocity—teams with more resources can build faster and attract better talent. DATs also represent a decentralizing force, creating multiple profit-motivated entities aligned with ecosystem growth rather than concentrating development in foundation and labs structures. Yuan argues that rejecting DATs means rejecting lower-cost capital at a critical competitive moment.

How do DATs fit into the convergence of TradFi and DeFi?

DATs represent one mechanism in the broader convergence of traditional and decentralized finance. They open "floodgates of capital flowing both ways"—allowing traditional investors to access crypto exposure while potentially bringing on-chain financial innovations to traditional markets. Yuan has evolved from decentralization maximalism to accepting that some centralized components are necessary bridges to mainstream adoption. The industry lacks sufficient intrinsic on-chain assets to support its aspirations; real-world assets and traditional liquidity layers are necessary components of the path forward.

What happened to Joe McCann's Solana DAT?

According to Blockworks reporting, Joe McCann's deal to take a Solana DAT public fell through, and he is reportedly not going to be involved if the project makes another attempt at going public. This represents a significant setback for Solana's DAT ambitions, as McCann was one of the more prominent potential leaders for such an effort. The circumstances highlight the challenges the ecosystem faces in finding appropriate leadership for major DAT initiatives.

Should Solana Foundation leadership operate DATs?

Yuan explicitly argues that foundation leadership should not directly operate Solana DATs, despite Lily Liu being an excellent candidate given her KKR and McKinsey background. The foundation is currently working on numerous initiatives where Liu serves as de facto spokesperson and leader. Her departure to run a DAT could derail or block these initiatives. For smaller ecosystems, having original team members launch DATs may be appropriate, but for an ecosystem of Solana's scale, maintaining separation between non-profit foundation activities and for-profit DAT operations is important.