Solana Foundation hires Binance and Polygon veterans to boost tokenized finance

The Solana Foundation announced two senior hires as it intensifies its push into institutional finance and tokenized assets. Former Binance global chief marketing officer Rachel Conlan will serve as chief strategy officer, while Polygon Labs veteran Jamal Raees will become general manager for payments.

New leadership roles

Conlan will oversee strategy for institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth, and onboarding of companies onto the Solana network. Raees will focus on attracting payments firms and other businesses to use Solana for moving money.

Strategic context

The appointments align with Solana Foundation President Lily Liu’s “Token Supercycle” thesis, which envisions a long‑term migration of money, assets and ownership onto continuously operating blockchain infrastructure. The foundation is positioning Solana as infrastructure for stablecoin payments, tokenized funds and equities, beyond traditional crypto trading.

Network activity

• Solana has processed over $5 trillion in stablecoin volume this year (Allium data).
• Tokenized assets on Solana total $4.5 billion, including more than $600 million in stocks (RWA.xyz and Blockworks data).

Outlook

Conlan emphasized the goal of expanding Solana’s reach to a broader audience by clarifying value, building institutional relationships, and moving businesses from interest to implementation.