If you're looking to get rich slowly, you should probably own some Solana (SOL -3.60%). The high-speed blockchain is already one of the biggest, but during the next decade and beyond, it could become a giant, making investors into millionaires during its gradual march of value accumulation.
Here's why and how Solana could help you retire a millionaire.
Image source: Getty Images.
Tokenized stocks are Solana's biggest opening at the moment
You probably invest in stocks frequently. When you do, as a retail investor you're usually only allowed to interact with the stocks on the market or in your portfolio when it's open, which is to say, on weekdays and during specific hours. Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization removes these restrictions, and Solana will be one of the biggest venue for tokenized stocks in the future.
But let's back up for a moment before getting into more detail. Tokenization means recording ownership of assets like stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on a blockchain. The trend of tokenization already has incredible momentum, with more than $32.5 billion of tokenized assets now tracked across public chains, up more than 12% in 30 days as of Oct. 2; $1.3 billion of the total are from tokenized stocks. On Solana, there is currently $689.4 million in tokenized assets, and $78.1 million of that sum is from tokenized stocks, up from essentially $0 as recently as midsummer.
So why is Solana capturing so much of the tokenized stocks segment so quickly? In short, its technology is well-suited to being a great platform for tokenized assets that need to change hands quickly and cheaply. On average, it features very low fees and quick transaction finality, which makes frequent settlement and 24/7 markets feasible. In other words, costs are predictable, and throughput is high.
And the pipeline for further growth looks quite promising, as many players are looking to enter the tokenization sector, meaning that some of their capital is likely to land on Solana. Per Tiger Research, the market for tokenized stocks could reach $1.3 trillion by 2030 alone, so capturing even a slice of that activity would be sufficient to make Solana a lot more valuable.
Major platforms are seeking approvals to offer tokenized equities, with Coinbase Global publicly pushing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a path to list blockchain-based stocks, which would normalize the category and could also catalyze volume. If the market structure shifts, chains designed for low-latency, low-fee settlement have an edge.
How this could add up to a millionaire outcome
Becoming a millionaire with Solana is less about timing a spike in interest and more about systematic accumulation while the network's value-generating activities deepen.
If tokenized equities and funds move from pilot programs to being the default, demand for the chain's blockspace and chain-native liquidity in the form of stablecoins will both soar. Presently, there's every indication of that process happening, which means that there's a big investable opportunity here.
The game plan to become richer with an investment in Solana is measured in years because that's how long it will take for the entire asset tokenization trend to play out -- it's just starting to pick up speed now, so there's plenty of time to realize the upside. Therefore, use a dollar-cost averaging (DCAing) strategy to neutralize the guesswork of picking entry points.
One important caveat to this plan: There are still some serious risks and uncertainty lurking regarding tokenization. Regulation can proceed unevenly, and liquidity in tokenized stocks is still thin in many jurisdictions; even advocates acknowledge the technical standards and market plumbing are works in progress. Solana also competes with incumbents with deep enterprise ties, and tokenization leadership can potentially migrate across chains if developer tooling or regulatory compliance is better elsewhere.
But even given this, the balance of risk and reward still favor an investment in Solana here. Therefore, size your starting position and your regular investments so that you can keep buying through the valleys when they come, rather than selling at the lows.
If you believe that the market structure for stocks will modernize toward 24/7 operation, near-instant settlement, and publicly auditable ownership records, the simplest expression of that belief is to own the blockchain built for it and give it time to work.
To be clear, the opportunity here is more than seeing Solana become more valuable as a result of its decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem or buzz. It's the possibility that a meaningful slice of the world's stocks will soon live and trade on Solana. And if that happens, investors will be glad they showed up early -- it might even help them to retire as millionaires if they're diligent enough with their purchasing.
