The Solana Foundation has appointed former Binance CMO Rachel Conlan as chief strategy officer and former Polygon Labs executive Jamal Raees as general manager of payments. The high-profile hires align with President Lily Liu's "Token Supercycle" thesis, which envisions the migration of global financial assets onto always-on blockchain networks. The appointments come as Solana expands its institutional footprint, boasting over $5 trillion in 2026 stablecoin volume and preparing major speed upgrades like Alpenglow.
Rachel Conlan's appointment and background
- ▪Rachel Conlan spent three years at Binance and previously held senior leadership roles at OKX, CAA Sports, and Havas.
- ▪The Solana Foundation appointed former Binance global chief marketing officer Rachel Conlan as chief strategy officer on September 24, 2026.
Jamal Raees's appointment and background
- ▪Jamal Raees previously worked at stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge and crypto payments firm Wyre before joining the Solana Foundation.
- ▪The Solana Foundation appointed former Polygon Labs executive Jamal Raees as general manager of payments on September 24, 2026.
Integrations for artificial intelligence agent payments
- ▪The Solana Foundation partnered with Google Cloud to launch a pay-as-you-go payment system for artificial intelligence agents
- ▪Amazon Web Services integrated Solana into Amazon Web Services' x402 feature, enabling website owners to charge artificial intelligence agents in USDC for content access
Solana network transaction and asset volumes
- ▪The Solana network reached over $4.5 billion in real-world assets and more than $620 million in tokenized equity supply in 2026.
- ▪The Solana network processed more than $5 trillion in stablecoin volume during 2026.
Token Supercycle outlook
- ▪Solana Foundation President Lily Liu described her "Token Supercycle" thesis as a long-term migration of money, assets, and ownership onto always-on internet infrastructure
- ▪Solana Foundation President Lily Liu stated in September 2026 that the question is how fast markets move onchain and onto whose internet infrastructure
Solana network speed and upgrade developments
- ▪Solana is preparing to deploy the Alpenglow network upgrade to reduce transaction finality from approximately 12.8 seconds to roughly 150 milliseconds.
- ▪Solana reduced its target slot time to 250 milliseconds in September 2026, representing a nearly 17% speedup in block production.
Debatable claims
- ▪Public blockchains are ready to replace traditional payment rails
- ▪Traditional financial assets will eventually migrate to public blockchains
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