Solana launches developer platform
Solana debuted a new Developer Platform and is already naming Mastercard and Western Union among early partners—putting compliance and wallet infra front-and-center for blockchain payments. The move shows major payments incumbents are treating chain-native developer APIs as production-ready rails rather than experimental stacks. (thestreet.com)
Solana Foundation officially unveiled the Solana Developer Platform (SDP) on March 24, 2026 as an API-first, AI-ready toolkit aimed at institutional builders. (solana.com) SDP is organized into three core API modules — Issuance, Payments and Trading — with the Issuance and Payments modules live at launch and the Trading module slated to arrive later in 2026. (solana.com) The Issuance module expressly supports tokenized deposits, GENIUS‑compliant stablecoins and tokenized real‑world assets (RWAs), a market estimated at $328 billion in total value. (solana.com) At launch SDP aggregated more than 20 infrastructure partners across four categories, including node providers (Alchemy, Helius, QuickNode, Triton) and custody/wallet vendors (Anchorage Digital, BitGo, Coinbase, Fireblocks, Paxos). (solana.com) Compliance tooling on the platform lists Chainalysis, Elliptic, Range and TRM, while on/off‑ramp and payments rails include Bridge, BVNK, Lightspark, Modern Treasury and MoonPay. (solana.com) Solana’s announcement highlights SDP’s use of recent protocol features such as token extensions for permissioning and privacy to make enterprise flows API‑driven. (solana.com) The SDP rollout went live in a sandbox environment on Solana’s testnet and arrives after the network’s 2025 Alpenglow upgrade that bumped throughput, placing SDP into a competitive field that includes Infura/Linea, Coinbase’s Base and the XRP Ledger. (coinmarketcap.com)
