Each month, we’re bringing you a breakdown of startups’ journeys building on Solana, as well as noteworthy blockchain and ecosystem updates.

Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

In this episode of Solana Sessions, we sat down with Ben Nadareski, Co-Founder and CEO of Solstice Lab to break down how Solstice brings institutional-grade delta-neutral trading strategies to everyday users through a permissionless, onchain structure. Ben explains how Solstice can give a $5 retail depositor access to the exact same real yield that hedge funds, trading firms, and major institutions receive with no backroom deals, no preferential terms, and fully transparent onchain proof of reserves.

They discuss how Solstice scales yield to billions through delta-neutral funding-rate arbitrage, why its strategy is sustainable in crypto but nearly erased in traditional markets, and how liquid staking-style receipt tokens unlock collateral efficiency across Solana. Ben also shares why their TVL scaled over $300M in just three months, how institutions are entering crypto through Solstice, and why full transparency is the only way to rebuild trust after years of opaque DeFi yields.

This episode is a part of the Solana Sessions campaign that Token Relations and the Talking Tokens podcast are doing, diving into founders’ journeys and startups building on Solana. Check out the accompanying podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

Institutional trading strategies have traditionally been available only to those with deep pockets, and often require high minimum investments with complex legal structures. Solstice aims to remove those barriers by offering similar strategies through a transparent, onchain system that anyone can access.

Solstice relies on delta-neutral trading strategies designed to generate yield without taking directional market risk. “We don’t take market directional bets,” Nadareski said. “We don’t care if the price goes up or down — we care about the arbitrage opportunity that exists.”

Those strategies are delivered through Solstice’s yield-bearing stablecoin. Users deposit stablecoins and earn yield generated from trading activity, rather than token incentives or short-term subsidies. 

Nadareski stressed that Solstice does not offer preferential treatment to large investors. “We have the largest institutional funds in the world participating in Solstice, with the everyday user accessing the same level of yield with no difference,” he said. “There’s no priorities, there’s no backroom deals, it’s all onchain.”

While the protocol is permissionless for retail users, Solstice also operates a regulated fund vehicle for institutions, and both kinds of users have access to the same underlying strategy. “We’ve built an institutional-grade structure where institutions feel comfortable,” Nadareski said. “They know it’s the same onboarding, it’s the same level of institutional-grade, enterprise-grade investment production that they normally would get at a traditional fund allocation.”

Nadareski also highlighted transparency as core to Solstice’s design. “Showing that transparency and building that trust factor has been the difference,” he said. “Most protocols do not show how that yield is being generated, where that yield is being generated, the transparency and trust of everything that's happening on the back.”

Solstice, Nadareski said, chose to build on Solana due to its composability and ecosystem structure. “Layer-2 networks [on Ethereum] don't talk to each other with the same liquidity pools, and they don't have the same liquidity management. You can't just easily swap,” he said. “On Solana, [Solstice is] fully composable across the ecosystem.”

Overall, Nadareski sees products like Solstice as part of the broader shift in sentiment towards crypto. “The biggest shift that we’re going to see is when the everyday user starts paying for their groceries, their gas and their rent with crypto,” he said. “We’re getting very close to that point.”

These metrics were provided by the Solstice team and are accurate at the time of publication.

To get this newsletter delivered to your inbox, subscribe here:

This product was built by Token Relations. 

This information is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research.