Solana is no longer just a blockchain known for fast transactions and meme coin rallies. Under the leadership of Lily Liu, President of the Solana Foundation, the network is being repositioned as foundational infrastructure for what she calls “internet capital markets” — a global, inclusive financial system accessible to anyone with an internet connection.
In a compelling presentation at the 2025 Web3 Festival in Hong Kong and an exclusive interview, Liu laid out a bold vision that transcends short-term price movements and speculative trends. Her focus is on long-term economic transformation — democratizing access to capital, redefining ownership, and building financial systems that serve not just institutions, but individuals worldwide.
From Meme Coins to the “Everything Chain”
“Solana has evolved from being the DeFi chain to the NFT chain, the gaming chain, the payment chain, and recently the meme coin chain,” Liu explained. “When you sum all that up, Solana is the everything chain.”
While meme coins propelled Solana’s price to an all-time high of $290 in January 2025 — before retracing over 60% — Liu sees these assets as just one phase in a broader evolution. “Meme coins are just one type of asset. There will be something else — there’s always going to be the tulip market and the beanie baby market. That’s been going on for a really long time. That’s just what humans do with or without blockchain,” she noted.
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Despite the volatility associated with meme-driven speculation, Solana’s Total Value Locked (TVL) reached a record high in April 2025. This milestone reflects growing confidence in Solana’s underlying utility — particularly in decentralized finance (DeFi), real-world asset tokenization, and scalable financial applications.
The Growing Crisis of Capital Access
Liu brings a rare blend of traditional finance experience and Web3 innovation to her role. As co-founder of Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase in 2018) and former CFO of Chinaco Healthcare Corporation, she has operated at the intersection of technology and capital markets across both the U.S. and China.
This background informs her critique of today’s financial systems: capital access is shrinking for younger generations. “Fifty years ago, it took 25 hours of labor to buy one share of the S&P 500. Today, it takes 195 hours,” Liu stated during her keynote.
This dramatic shift illustrates how wealth accumulation has become increasingly out of reach for average workers. While corporate and institutional investors benefit from early access and favorable terms, everyday earners face rising barriers — from stock market entry to homeownership.
In countries like South Korea and China, housing prices have surged beyond what young professionals can afford without generational wealth support. “The parents’ generation has retained the upside of a major asset class like housing,” Liu observed. “Young people’s ability to convert hours of labor into capital and freedom later in life has become extremely limited.”
She highlighted the cultural pressure in China, where young men are often expected to own property before marriage — a near-impossible feat on average salaries without family assistance.
Blockchain as Global Financial Infrastructure
Liu believes blockchain technology offers a solution: a unified global financial infrastructure. Just as the internet democratized access to information, blockchain can democratize access to wealth creation.
“What crypto is doing is providing this unified infrastructure to unify the wealth, the transactions, the financial coffers of five and a half billion people,” she said.
Unlike traditional financial systems that require extensive documentation, credit checks, and geographic eligibility, blockchain enables permissionless participation. All someone needs is a smartphone and internet access to download a crypto wallet and begin engaging with global markets.
This shift is especially transformative for emerging economies and underbanked populations. For millions who lack access to brokerage accounts or retirement plans, blockchain opens doors to assets like equities, bonds, real estate tokens, and yield-generating protocols — all without intermediaries.
Toward Community-Based Capitalism
One of Liu’s most provocative ideas is the concept of community-based capitalism — an economic model where value accrues directly to participants rather than being captured solely by shareholders or centralized entities.
“Over the last 100 years, we’ve come to accept that the dominant ownership models are either capitalist or communist — corporate ownership or state ownership,” Liu explained. “What Bitcoin proposed is that those aren’t the only choices.”
She contrasts traditional platforms like Uber, where early drivers provided critical network growth but received no equity, with crypto ecosystems where contributors can earn tokens that appreciate as the network grows.
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“Instead of universal basic income, which is essentially a welfare economy, crypto proposes universal basic opportunity,” Liu said. This model rewards early participation and contribution with real economic upside.
Solana’s own governance debates reflect this philosophy. A recent proposal to reduce inflation sparked intense community discussion. Liu actively participated, cautioning that while lower inflation might improve network security metrics, it could undermine Solana’s appeal as a yield-generating asset.
“Dynamic yield on an asset makes it a worse asset,” she emphasized. “If you have an asset yielding a fixed percentage annually, you price that very differently than one with variable rates.”
Building the Ownership Economy
At the heart of Liu’s vision is the ownership economy — a future where individuals can directly convert their labor, creativity, and time into digital assets and capital.
Imagine developers earning tokenized equity in projects they build on Solana; artists monetizing their work through NFTs with built-in royalties; or gamers owning in-game assets that hold real-world value. These aren’t hypotheticals — they’re already happening at scale on Solana.
Liu envisions this expanding into traditional asset classes: tokenized stocks, fractional real estate ownership, AI-generated content with provable provenance, and more. The goal? To bring five and a half billion internet users into global capital markets — not as passive consumers, but as active owners.
“The end state is moving into assets that have value, can also command price, and bring more inclusivity around the world,” Liu concluded. “This is where crypto is going.”
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: What does Lily Liu mean by “internet capital markets”?
A: Internet capital markets refer to a decentralized financial system built on blockchain where anyone with internet access can participate in investing, trading, and owning assets — without relying on traditional intermediaries like banks or brokers.
Q: How is Solana different from other blockchains in enabling capital access?
A: Solana combines high-speed processing, low transaction costs, and growing ecosystem support to make financial applications scalable and accessible globally — especially important for users in developing regions.
Q: Are meme coins part of Solana’s long-term vision?
A: While meme coins have driven attention and activity on Solana, they are seen as a temporary phenomenon. The long-term focus remains on building sustainable financial infrastructure and real-world asset integration.
Q: What is “community-based capitalism”?
A: It’s an economic model where value created within a network is shared among its participants — developers, users, creators — rather than being concentrated in corporate hands or state control.
Q: Can blockchain really solve wealth inequality?
A: Blockchain alone won’t eliminate inequality, but it can reduce barriers to entry by enabling broader access to investment opportunities, ownership models, and financial services — especially for underserved populations.
Q: What role does inflation play in Solana’s economic model?
A: Inflation helps fund validator rewards and maintain network security. However, debates continue about balancing inflation levels to ensure both security and attractiveness as a yield-bearing asset.
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As Solana continues to mature beyond its meme coin era, Lily Liu’s vision positions it not just as another cryptocurrency platform, but as foundational infrastructure for a new global economy — one where participation isn’t limited by geography, income level, or legacy systems.
With TVL hitting record highs and adoption spreading across DeFi, gaming, payments, and asset tokenization, Solana is demonstrating that speed and scalability can coexist with meaningful financial innovation.
The journey toward inclusive internet capital markets has only just begun — but for billions seeking greater control over their financial futures, Solana may be helping pave the way.