Solayer invests $35 million in an ecosystem fund, this time supporting projects with real revenue

2026-01-21 01:25:42

Solayer announces the launch of a $35 million ecosystem fund dedicated to supporting high-throughput, real-time on-chain applications built on the infiniSVM architecture. The fund is jointly provided by Solayer Labs and the Solayer Foundation, focusing on early and growth-stage projects with clear revenue models and strong fundamentals, marking Solayer’s transition from the technology validation phase to the ecosystem development stage.

The Investment Logic of the Fund Is Very Clear

Performance advantages are the core of its appeal

As a Layer-1 blockchain compatible with Solana, infiniSVM has a significant competitive edge in performance. The network can process 330,000 transactions per second with final confirmation times of approximately 400 milliseconds. This metric is crucial for applications requiring real-time execution. Such performance levels enable DeFi protocols to achieve near-instant transaction confirmation, payment applications to provide smooth user experiences, and AI-driven systems to handle high-frequency decision-making.

Pragmatic investment choices

Solayer co-founder Jason Li explicitly stated that the fund “aims to support technically driven founders solving real problems, prioritizing businesses with sustainable fundamentals rather than short-term narratives or hype-driven startups.” This statement is key, indicating that Solayer is not simply subsidizing and burning money but seeking applications that can generate value on high-performance chains.

Focus areas cover mainstream sectors

Investment Area	Application Scenarios	Performance Requirements
DeFi	Trading, lending, derivatives	Ultra-low latency, high throughput
Payments	Consumer payments, settlements	Instant confirmation, low cost
AI-driven systems	On-chain decision-making, automation	High-frequency interactions, real-time feedback
Tokenized RWA	Asset trading, settlement	High throughput, determinism

The selection of these sectors revolves around a core logic: only with high throughput and low latency can true value be realized.

The Ecosystem Has Achieved Initial Results

The fund is built upon the Solayer Accel accelerator project. The initial cohort includes several representative projects:

buff.trade: AI trading platform requiring real-time data processing and rapid execution
DoxX: Hardware-accelerated MetaDEX with extremely high performance demands
Spout Finance: Asset tokenization platform needing high-throughput trading capabilities

These projects are actively developing performance-sensitive financial applications on infiniSVM, demonstrating that the ecosystem is not empty but already has projects validating this direction.

What This Means for the Ecosystem

From a market perspective, Solayer’s investment in ecosystem development signals several messages:

First, technical validation is complete. The performance metrics of 330,000 TPS and 400 ms confirmation have been verified on the network, and the current focus is on application deployment.

Second, the investment strategy has shifted from " subsidy-driven" to “fundamental-driven.” This pragmatic approach may attract more founders with genuine business needs rather than speculators.

Third, covering sectors like DeFi, payments, and AI indicates that Solayer is seeking diversified ecosystem development rather than betting all on a single application.

Future Directions to Watch

The future performance of this fund will depend on several factors: whether invested projects can deliver usable products, whether users will migrate to infiniSVM due to its performance advantages, and whether Solayer can establish sufficient liquidity and developer ecosystem. While $35 million is not particularly large in the current crypto ecosystem, the key lies in how effectively this capital is deployed and whether it can attract more developers and users.

Summary

Solayer’s $35 million ecosystem fund marks the project’s transition from the technical phase to application deployment. Rather than merely a subsidy fund, it is a strategic investment aimed at attracting commercially valuable applications based on infiniSVM’s high-performance advantages. The fund’s investment choices reflect a pragmatic approach, prioritizing high-performance sectors like DeFi, payments, and AI. The critical next step is whether these funded projects can launch user-facing products and generate positive network effects.

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