Bitwise CIO: Institutional Investors Are Turning to Solana, Four Key Factors Driving Its Outperformance Over Ethereum

Jinse Finance reported that Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, stated that Solana is gradually becoming a favored asset among "alpha seekers"—investors looking for excess returns. Institutions view it as a "challenger asset" to Ethereum, and four major factors are driving large investors to favor Solana. 1. A pragmatic "launch first, optimize later" attitude Hougan noted that Solana has established a reputation for "moving fast and prioritizing deployment over perfection." While Ethereum may spend years debating upgrade proposals, Solana launches products first and then iteratively optimizes them in real time—this efficient pace is attracting institutions tired of Ethereum’s "delayed roadmap." 2. Leading position in tokenization Hougan pointed out that Solana has become the blockchain of choice for "equity tokenization": many real-world asset (RWA) projects prioritize Solana over competitors when selecting their underlying infrastructure. "Solana is ahead in the competition for equity tokenization," he emphasized. 3. Attractive high staking yields Institutions prefer assets that can "passively generate returns," and "stakeable blockchains" like Solana and Ethereum meet this need—among them, Solana’s staking business stands out. Data shows that over 81% of SOL tokens on the Solana network (worth about $51 billions) have been staked; in contrast, only 27% of ETH on the Ethereum network is staked. More importantly, Solana’s annualized staking yield is about 7%, allowing institutions to enjoy both potential token price appreciation and stable passive income; while Ethereum’s annualized staking yield is only about 3%. 4. Greater growth potential The last factor relates to Solana’s "scale." Hougan believes that one of the core reasons institutions are interested in Solana is its much smaller scale compared to Ethereum, which means greater growth potential. "Precisely because Solana is much smaller than Ethereum, its upside potential is much broader," he explained.