Solana Conference Returns to Istanbul as Solana’s Institutional Interest and Adoption Surge

The largest community-organized Solana ecosystem event returns to Istanbul for its annual conference, bringing together builders, investors, and Solana enthusiasts to celebrate achievements and chart the future of the network.
12 March, 2025 – Solana Crossroads, the largest community-organized Solana conference for the ecosystem, returns to Istanbul April 25-26, 2025. Building on last year’s conference success of 2,500 attendees, Crossroads will unite the top ecosystem projects, investors, and thought leaders of Web3.

“Istanbul sits at the crossroads of the East and West and one-third of the population maintains a crypto exchange account. It’s the perfect backdrop for highlighting everything the ecosystem has already achieved while exploring what’s next with Solana’s largest projects and top contributors.” says George Harrap, Co-Founder of Step Finance and Solana Crossroads.

The conference arrives at a pivotal moment as Solana turns 5 years old in March 2025, and in this short time, the ecosystem has achieved remarkable milestones, flipping many of Ethereum’s key metrics, including Monthly DEX volume. In November 2024, Solana’s DEX volume reached a record-breaking $129 billion, surpassing Ethereum’s all-time high of $117 billion set in May 2021.

Recent developments have elevated Solana’s influence and mainstream recognition, with U.S. President Donald Trump including the high-performing blockchain in his strategic crypto reserve initiative.

This presidential attention comes as institutional adoption continues to accelerate, with Franklin Templeton managing $1.2 trillion in assets and identifying Solana as the future home for AI agents and real-world assets. Major partnerships with Shopify, Stripe and Hamilton Lane, alongside Solana’s upcoming Firedancer validator client—capable of processing over 1 million TPS— also solidify the network’s vision as ‘Nasdaq on the Blockchain.

Solana led new developer onboarding in 2024, surpassing Ethereum for the first time. Additionally, Coinbase Prime’s strategic integration with Marinade Finance has made institutional-grade staking accessible to traditional finance players.

Set against this backdrop of rapid innovation, the two-day conference in Istanbul will feature top industry leaders, with more speakers to be announced soon!

Speakers include:

• Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins 
• Zano Sherwani, Co-Founder & CEO of Jito Labs
• Michael Repetný, Co-Founder of Marinade Labs
• Eric Chen, Co-Founder of Injective Labs 
• Austin Federa, Co-Founder of Double Zero
• Kash Dhanda, CMO of Jupiter
• Chris Heaney, Co-Founder of Drift

Solana Crossroads has a history of facilitating groundbreaking announcements, with last year’s event featuring Jupiter’s mobile app launch and Marinade Finance’s V2 staking protocol reveal. With the ecosystem’s unprecedented institutional momentum and technical breakthroughs, this year’s event is positioned to unveil the next wave of innovations shaping Solana’s future.

Secure your tickets now and join thousands of Web3 enthusiasts in Istanbul this April.