Solana Foundation Hires Former Binance CMO For Institutional Push

• The Solana Foundation has appointed former Binance global CMO Rachel Conlan as chief strategy officer.
• Former Polygon Labs executive Jamal Raees has joined as general manager of payments.
• The Foundation says the hires are aimed at accelerating institutional adoption and payment activity on Solana.

**ID:** N25-07

**Site:** NewsBTC

**Status:** READY

**Author:** NewsBTC Editorial Team

**Focus Keyword:** Solana

**Image Keyword:** Solana

**Category:** Altcoins

**Tags:** Solana, Rachel Conlan, Payments, Institutions, Foundation

**Primary Source:** https://solana.com/news

Solana Wants To Turn Network Activity Into Institutional Adoption

Conlan spent three years as Binance’s global CMO and previously held senior roles at OKX, CAA Sports and Havas.

At Solana, her remit will extend beyond marketing.

The Foundation says she will oversee institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth and go-to-market strategy.

Raees will focus more narrowly on payments.

His role covers stablecoins, tokenized deposits and the broader infrastructure required to make Solana useful as a financial settlement network.

The appointments arrive as the Foundation points to substantial growth across those areas.

It says Solana has processed more than $5 trillion in stablecoin volume during 2026, while real-world assets on the network have passed $4.5 billion and tokenized equity supply has moved above $620 million.

Those are company-reported ecosystem figures, but they explain why the Foundation is building a team specifically around institutional finance.

Solana Is Competing For Financial Infrastructure, Not Just Crypto Apps

Solana’s earlier growth story was heavily associated with trading, NFTs and consumer crypto applications.

The network is increasingly positioning itself around payments, tokenization and institutional settlement as well.

That brings it into a different competitive set.

Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks remain deeply embedded in tokenized finance, while newer payment-focused chains and private banking networks are chasing many of the same use cases.

Solana’s pitch is performance: high throughput, low transaction costs and an existing pool of stablecoin liquidity.

But technology alone does not bring institutions onchain.

Banks, asset managers and payment companies require partnerships, compliance integration and people who can translate blockchain infrastructure into products that fit existing financial businesses.

The Foundation’s latest hires suggest it knows that.

Solana already has the network.

Conlan and Raees are being brought in to help turn that network into something more institutions and payment companies actually use.

*This article was written by the News Desk and edited by [Samuel Rae](https://www.newsbtc.com/author/rae-samuel/).*