Institutional Capital Flows into Solana Amid Network Upgrades

Solana CRYPTO000SOL

While Solana's price faces downward pressure, breaching the psychologically significant $80 level, a notable counter-trend is emerging behind the scenes. Institutional investors are capitalizing on the weakness to establish positions. This accumulation coincides with a major technical infrastructure enhancement unveiled by Alibaba Cloud, potentially increasing the network's appeal for professional users.

Fundamental network usage appears decoupled from the current market valuation. Data from Artemis reveals that in the week ending February 8, the Solana blockchain processed a record 959 million transactions, marking an all-time high. This robust activity underscores strong underlying demand for the network's utility, even as its native token, SOL, trades just above $80 after testing support zones near $82.90.

The divergence between soaring on-chain metrics and price performance highlights the ongoing tension between positive network fundamentals and broader macroeconomic uncertainties weighing on the crypto sector. Whether increasing institutional inflows can catalyze a sustained price reversal remains to be seen in the coming weeks.

ETF Inflows Reach Monthly Peak

A clear signal of institutional interest comes from exchange-traded fund flows. On February 10 and 11, U.S. spot Solana ETFs recorded net inflows totaling $8.43 million, representing the highest daily figure since mid-January. Data from SolanaFloor and SoSoValue indicates that approximately $7.7 million of that sum went into the Bitwise Solana ETF (BSOL). Collectively, the assets under management for all Solana ETFs now stand near $700 million.

Perhaps more significantly, regulatory 13F filings for the fourth quarter of 2025 show that Goldman Sachs holds Solana ETF positions valued at roughly $108 million. This move signifies the investment bank's formal integration of SOL exposure into its diversified client portfolios.

Alibaba Cloud Announces Major Latency Reduction

In a parallel development boosting the network's technical backbone, Alibaba Cloud introduced a new RPC solution tailored for the Solana blockchain at the Consensus Hong Kong 2026 conference. The upgrade delivers substantial performance improvements:

• "Get Slot" Latency: Reduced from 25 milliseconds to just 10 ms
• "Get Block" Latency: Optimized to under 200 ms for 4-megabyte blocks

For high-frequency traders and institutional participants operating in the Asia-Pacific region, these enhancements translate to a measurable acceleration in transaction execution times, making the network more competitive for professional-grade applications.