JPMorgan Chase Signals Entry Into Bitcoin Loans, BlackRock’s Crypto Turbo & More

Welcome back!

This is J264G and this week I’ve got these titbits for you:

• Bitcoin Loans: JPMorgan eyes Bitcoin & Co. as loan collateral.

• Business Banking: Slash enables seamless on- and off-ramps on Solana.

• Blockchain Intelligence: Solana’s first AI foundation model goes live.

BlackRock’s newest cash cow: IBIT. The Bitcoin Spot ETF is printing faster than a central bank in an election year. Regulatory clarity isn’t just policy—it’s a green light for capital. BlackRock sees it, and they’re not dipping toes, they’re cannonballing in. Granted, a Solana Spot ETF from BlackRock has not been confirmed just yet, but the silence might be strategic. 

Now, let’s jump right into this week’s newsletter!

Click on any underlined heading/hyperlink to learn more.

Spotlight

System Reboot

Moving the traditional financial system onchain has always been one of DeFi’s biggest goals. 

And today, half a decade removed from DeFi summer, the shift is finally picking up momentum.

While that’s very exciting, it’s important to unpack how DeFi improves upon existing market structure and what will drive even faster DeFi adoption. In other words, how does DeFi make finance more efficient or effective? 

A major part of the answer lies in tokenization.

One of the biggest advantages of tokenization is that once an asset lives on Solana, it becomes instantly accessible to anyone with an internet connection and a Solana wallet. It can then be used seamlessly across the entire Solana DeFi ecosystem—all while staying fully compliant with regulatory requirements. Moving to DeFi-native infrastructure also unlocks significant cost savings for institutions. One CEO of a major retail brokerage has noted that their crypto operations are dramatically cheaper to run than their traditional equities business—thanks largely to the efficiencies of onchain clearing and settlement.

These advantages are best realized on a decentralized and high-throughput blockchain like Solana. The network allows for intense competition at the token and application levels while preserving the security guarantees and censorship resistance of the underlying network. In contrast, centralized L2s and appchains lack many of these benefits and can fragment both liquidity and composability. Although they may offer acceptable tradeoffs in some cases, it’s unlikely that issuers of spot assets are willing to accept these in the long-term. 

In fact, as part of Orca’s efforts to help accelerate the adoption of DeFi, we’ve had conversations with many of the largest financial institutions in the world, and one consistent theme is that many of them have to deal with extremely fragmented asset ledgers even within their own businesses. Tokenizing their assets and bringing them onchain within a unified ecosystem like Solana is exciting to them in part because it explicitly fixes this problem.

In short, Solana offers a rare trifecta—composability, competition, and compliance—without the bureaucratic bloat. This isn’t finance slowly evolving, it’s a system reboot: Internet Capital Markets.

The future starts on Solana, and we’re building it brick by brick.

Numbers Of The Week

News Bites

Stablecoin Acceleration: The bipartisan GENIUS Act, signed into law by President Trump, marks a watershed moment for crypto. By formally recognising US dollar-backed stablecoins and creating a new class of regulated financial institutions, the legislation moves stablecoins from regulatory grey zone to the mainstream. With legal clarity now in place, stablecoin adoption by businesses and banks is no longer a matter of if—but when.

Business Banking: Slash, the neobank known for tailored business banking, has switched on seamless on- and off-ramps on Solana—enabling businesses to both pay vendors/contractors and receive payments in USDC. Funds convert automatically between USD and USDC behind the scenes, so teams benefit from one unified banking experience, without the need to manage multiple platforms. This integration streamlines stablecoin payments while maintaining clear compliance and accounting, which is ideal for businesses looking to adopt crypto without the usual operational headaches.

Bitcoin Loans: JPMorgan Chase is reportedly considering introducing loans backed by clients’ crypto holdings as early as next year—a strategic shift for CEO Jamie Dimon. If launched, these collateralised loans would further fuse traditional banking with onchain finance, leveraging regulatory clarity and signalling crypto’s steady integration into mainstream financial services. 

Blockchain Intelligence: Solana’s high-throughput design delivers speed, but at the cost of analytical complexity. Zark AI aims to solve that problem: it is the first AI foundation model purpose-built for decoding Solana’s transaction layer. From compliance monitoring to trading strategy, it represents a significant leap in blockchain-native intelligence.

Sandwich Attacks: As Solana’s onchain capital markets deepen, the risk of exploitative practices such as sandwich attacks becomes increasingly salient. Developers and researchers are responding with renewed urgency, advancing new tools to uphold market fairness. These efforts will be critical to maintaining trust as Solana transitions from an experimental playground to institutional-grade infrastructure.

Coming Home: Polymarket has acquired QCEX—a CFTC-regulated exchange and clearinghouse—for $112 million. With this move, the leading prediction market is now fully equipped to operate within U.S. regulatory guardrails. Here’s how you can start exploring markets and placing predictions on Polymarket with Phantom. 

Deal Flow

When the Solana ecosystem moves, it moves fast.

We give capital allocators an unfair advantage: high-signal research, due diligence, and warm intros.  

Drop us a line and we’ll help take your Solana deal flow to the next level.

Caught In 4K

Weekly Take

Keks & Giggles

And that's a wrap!

You can reach me anytime over on 𝕏.

Talk soon!

J264G

_{DISCLAIMER
None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research. Lastly, please be advised that we discuss products and services from our partners from which our team members may hold tokens/equity.}