The Solana Foundation has released a comprehensive long-term roadmap outlining its strategy to position the Solana blockchain as the foundational layer for global internet capital markets (ICMs) by the year 2027. This ambitious plan emphasizes addressing “market microstructures” as the most critical challenge currently facing the Solana network.
Vision for Internet Capital Markets (ICMs)
The concept of ICMs, as defined by former Solana Foundation core team member Akshay, envisions a “globally accessible ledger where entities, currencies, and cultures are tokenized,” thereby granting “anyone with an internet connection access to capital markets.” Solana’s newly released Internet Capital Markets Roadmap reaffirms that building the “decentralized backbone” for ICMs has been the blockchain’s core mission from its inception.
The roadmap emphasizes that while “increasing bandwidth and reducing latency (IBRL) are absolutely necessary,” they are not sufficient to achieve this grand vision. The third crucial pillar of Solana’s roadmap will focus on the intricate details of market microstructures, recognizing that the way markets function on a blockchain needs to evolve beyond traditional finance models.
Addressing Market Microstructure with Application-Controlled Execution (ACE)
According to the roadmap, ecosystem builders within the Solana community have coalesced around a shared vision to tackle the complexities of market microstructure: Application-Controlled Execution (ACE). ACE aims to empower smart contracts with “millisecond-level control over their own transaction ordering.” This innovation is seen as key to building a flexible, high-performance transaction environment on Solana that diverges significantly from the often rigid structures of traditional financial markets. The roadmap explicitly states that “Until now, it wasn’t clear how market microstructure for ICM should differ from TradFi,” highlighting the significance of this newly consolidated vision.
Key Architectural Improvements on the Horizon
Solana’s 2027 roadmap proposes several key architectural improvements to bring this “flexible market microstructure” to life on its mainnet. These developments are planned across short-term, medium-term, and ongoing timelines:
- Next Three Months: Jito’s Block Assembly Marketplace (BAM). The roadmap highlights the imminent launch of Jito’s Block Assembly Marketplace (BAM) transaction processing system. BAM is designed to provide validators and traders with new tools to “improve performance and create value” within the Solana ecosystem. The testnet for BAM is scheduled to launch within the next few days.
- Medium Term: DoubleZero Peer-to-Peer Fiber Network. A significant medium-term goal is the full rollout of DoubleZero, a dedicated peer-to-peer fiber network specifically designed to replace the public internet for Solana transactions. This private network aims to further reduce latency and improve reliability. DoubleZero is already in its testnet phase, with over 100 validators and 3% of the mainnet stake participating. The full launch is anticipated by mid-September.
- Ongoing: Throughput Increases. Building on Solana’s recent network upgrade, which increased block capacity by 20% to 60 million compute units, the roadmap outlines plans for further throughput increases before the end of 2025. This continuous focus on increasing the network’s capacity is fundamental to supporting the demands of global internet capital markets.
By focusing on these critical areas, particularly the innovative ACE framework for market microstructure, Solana aims to establish itself as the leading infrastructure layer for the future of global finance on the internet. The 2027 roadmap provides a clear direction for the community and developers working to realize this ambitious vision.
