Andres OY

The Solana Foundation has revealed it has secured Mastercard, Worldpay, and Western Union as early users of its newly launched developer platform, as part of ongoing efforts to attract enterprises to build on its blockchain.
The Solana Developer Platform (SDP) was announced on Tuesday to enable enterprise developers to build on the blockchain using a unified interface.
Much of the focus is on real-world asset tokenization, including stablecoins, which is currently a $328 billion market. More than half of the total value is held on Ethereum however, with Solana holding 6.3% share of the tokenized real-world asset market.
"The early interest we’ve seen from enterprises and institutions signals strong demand," said Catherine Gu, the head of product at the Solana Foundation.
The SDP will initially have three core modules: an issuance module to deploy tokenized real-world assets, a payments module to facilitate fiat and stablecoin flows, and a trading module due later this year that will support atomic swaps, vaults, and onchain forex.
Early users of the SDP include Mastercard for stablecoin settlement, Worldpay for merchant payments and settlement, and Western Union for cross-border payments, said the Solana Foundation. $SOL
Solana's efforts to attract institutions
Solana invested in making the network enterprise-ready on a technical level with the Alpenglow upgrade in 2025, boosting transaction throughput. Meanwhile, in December, Visa launched (USDC) settlement for US banks on the Solana blockchain.
"The next phase of digital asset innovation will be defined by practical use cases that integrate seamlessly with existing financial systems," said Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president, blockchain and digital assets, at Mastercard.
Meanwhile, Malcolm Clarke, vice president of digital assets at Western Union, said the SDP is "not a replacement for our network," but allows it to expand use cases and bring more cross-border activity.
Solana enters a crowded enterprise blockchain space
Enterprise-grade blockchain solutions are not new, and Solana’s latest platform enters a crowded market.
The Ethereum ecosystem has several strong offerings targeting the same enterprise audience, including Consensys’ Infura, a scalable API infrastructure powering thousands of decentralized applications.
Consensys also has the $LINEA layer-2, which is positioning itself as an institutional on-ramp to crypto.
Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 platform Base has modular components for checkout, APIs, and commerce payments that directly compete with SDP's payments module.
Meanwhile, Ripple’s blockchain offerings, such as $XRP Ledger, also primarily target enterprise and financial institutions, as it aims to become the standard for cross-border payments.
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​Tether says it is moving toward its first full financial audit and has hired a Big Four accounting firm to examine the reserves behind its $USDT stablecoin, the largest among fiat-pegged tokens.
​The company said it has formally engaged a top-tier auditor to complete a comprehensive review of its financial statements, marking a shift away from the quarterly attestations that have defined its transparency efforts to date.
​"The Big Four Firm was selected through a competitive process because the organisation is already operating at Big Four audit standard," said Simon McWilliams, Tether's CFO. "The audit will be delivered," he added.
​Tether did not disclose which firm it selected. The so-called Big Four includes Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG. Deloitte has previously issued a reserve attestation for Tether-linked USAT — a U.S.-regulated stablecoin issued via Anchorage Digital — though that review was limited to a point-in-time snapshot and did not extend to USDT or Tether’s broader finances.
​End to a long era of FUD?
​For years, the company has faced scrutiny over whether its tokens are fully backed, publishing attestations that confirm reserve balances at a point in time but fall short of a full audit of its accounts. A completed audit would provide a more detailed and continuous view of assets, liabilities, and internal controls.
​Tether said the engagement followed a competitive process and comes after years of internal work to strengthen governance, reporting systems, and reserve management. The company added that the audit will cover a complex balance sheet spanning digital assets, traditional reserves, and tokenized liabilities.
​"Trust is built when institutions are willing to open themselves fully to scrutiny," said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.
USDT remains the largest stablecoin in circulation, with a market capitalization above $180 billion and more than 500 million users globally, according to the company.
​The scale has made Tether a significant player in short-term government debt markets, with executives previously signaling it could rank among the largest buyers of U.S. Treasury bills.
​Hiring a Big Four firm arrives as Tether has been expanding its geographical footprint and corporate size. The company recently launched a U.S.-focused stablecoin offering, USAT, and has outlined plans to add roughly 150 staff over the next 18 months as it scales operations. Earlier disclosures also showed continued user growth for USDT even during periods of market stress.
​The Block reached out to Tether and the Big Four accounting firms for comment
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