Solana Foundation Appoints Rachel Conlan as Chief Strategy Officer
The Solana Foundation announced the appointment of Rachel Conlan as Chief Strategy Officer, alongside the appointment of Jamal Raees as General Manager of Payment Operations. Conlan will be responsible for institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth, and market entry, aiming to turn the "internet capital market" from a slogan into reality. She stated on X that $200 million in tokenized stock transactions occurred in a single day, with approximately 63% happening outside regular trading hours in the U.S. stock market.
Conlan served as the Global Chief Marketing Officer at Binance for three years, leaving in June 2026, and previously worked at OKX, CAA Sports, and Havas. Raees comes from Polygon Labs, with experience at stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge and payment company Wyre. The Foundation's Chair, Lily Liu, envisions a "token supercycle" that shifts funds, assets, and ownership to a 24/7 network; the two will focus on institutional and payment operations respectively.
On-chain data is used to endorse positions. The Foundation claims that stablecoin transactions exceeded $5 trillion in 2026; RWA.xyz reports real-world assets over $4.5 billion, with tokenized stock supply around $620 million, peaking at $684 million and approximately 727,000 holding addresses. On September 12, tokenized stock transactions exceeded $200 million in a single day, with Raydium capturing about 60% to 70%; Backpack Securities and Sunrise issued products including NKE and GRND, with GRND seeing around $31 million in on-chain transactions within 24 hours, surpassing its previous trading day in U.S. stocks at approximately $16.6 million.
63% of after-hours transactions reflect product differentiation: the New York market closes at 4 PM, while Singapore and Lagos continue to trade U.S. stock exposure. Solana does not close, allowing synthetic or custodial mapped stocks to be continuously quoted on decentralized exchanges. This differs from transactions on the NYSE and NASDAQ, as it compares the niche of tokenized stocks rather than the total transactions of standard listed stocks.
In terms of market mechanisms, what is sold is 24/7 dollar stock exposure, and what is bought involves issuance, custody, and on-chain settlement. Demand comes from traders with time zone mismatches, while supply comes from licensed issuers like Backpack and liquidity from Raydium. Beneficiaries are DEXs that can collect trading fees and securities subsidiaries that can mint tokens, while traditional OTCs that can only market during trading hours face pressure. Funds flow from stablecoin and SOL fee pools to issuer reserves and market maker inventories, with the Foundation integrating institutional sales and payment into the same network through personnel changes.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Conlan's skill lies in transforming exchange traffic into brand and institutional narratives. After three years of global marketing at Binance, her move to a public chain foundation indicates that Solana seeks individuals who can sell the narrative of "the market has changed," rather than just writing another virtual machine white paper. Raees complements the payment pipeline, with experience from Bridge and Wyre relevant to stablecoin settlements. Their simultaneous appointments suggest a division of responsibilities for marketing and payment operations.
The capital pathway involves expanding RWA supply in exchange for trading taxes. The $600 million to $700 million in tokenized stock supply supports the $200 million daily turnover, indicating that turnover rates are no longer reflective of long-term allocations. The 63% after-hours share suggests that clients are purchasing based on time zones rather than deeper fundamental research. Collaborations with Japanese firms like SBI and the Washington summit overlay regulatory narratives onto transaction figures, facilitating the next round of custodians and brokers to engage.
Similar migrations can be seen in CME's night trading, 24-hour forex, and gold ETFs extending London pricing. Public chains apply the same logic without needing to open new seats. The industry is at a stage of reusing meme chain transaction capabilities for mapped stocks: the infrastructure is ready, but institutional sales and compliance packaging are lacking.
Structural judgments pertain to the reconstruction of the industry chain. The trading window for stocks has shifted from exchange calendars to block times. The mechanism is: whoever can provide liquidatable dollar stock tokens after market close will capture out-of-time-zone orders; the Foundation uses the CSO to frame these orders as "the internet capital market is operational," and the payment GM integrates stablecoin pathways into corporate cash flows.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
After-hours orders will flow to ledgers that are still block-producing
Daily turnover can tell a story, but supply scale determines whether institutions can stay
Public chains need institutions; first, they must hire those who can narrate transaction figures as market realities