Mastercard, Worldpay, and Western Union Named as Solana Developer Platform’s First Builders

Hot off the heels of last week’s controversial tokenxyz launch, the Solana Foundation is expanding its product suite to support new builders coming to the ecosystem.

Launching to a star-studded line up of early users, the Solana Developer Platform promises to streamline the development process. Powered by leading Solana infrastructure providers, SDP claims to make it easier than ever to launch new financial products in a compliant, scalable way.

The Foundation’s SDP launch comes at a crucial moment for the non-profit organization. Recent statements from Foundation representatives have drawn criticism from the Solana community, who have accused the entity of being “out of touch”.

What is the Solana Developer Platform?

Designed to help incoming builders hit the ground running, the Solana Foundation SDP is an AI-ready toolkit powered entirely by APIs. By pulling together leading infrastructure services from across Solana, the SDP provides enterprises and institutions with simple, abstracted modules across blockchain’s most coveted use cases. 

• Issuance Module - SDP helps businesses create new tokenized assets onchain, like RWAs, GENIUS-compliant stablecoins, and tokenized deposits

• Payments Module - Create fiat and stablecoin-centric payment flows, including on-ramping, off-ramping and P2P transfers

• Trading Module - Supports financial activities, like atomic swaps, vault creation and management, and onchain foreign exchange services.

Both the SDP’s Issuance and Payments modules will be live at launch, with the Trading module expected to be made available later in 2026. 

SDP interface - screenshot provided by Quicknode

Some of TradFi’s biggest names have already begun leveraging the SDP, with Mastercard, Western Union, and Worldpay seeking to expand their onchain footprint on Solana. Mastercard Executive VP of Blockchain and Digital Assets Raj Dhamodharan argues the SDP will help the payments giant contribute to “the next phase of digital asset innovation”.

“As an early user of Solana Developer Platform, we're helping enable direct stablecoin settlement for customers on select blockchain networks — beginning with Solana — combining the speed and programmability of blockchain with the reliability, security and global reach of the Mastercard network.” - Raj Dhamodharan, Executive Vice President, Blockchain & Digital Assets, Mastercard

Dhamodharan’s sentiments were echoed by Western Union’s VP of Digital Assets, Malcolm Clarke, who calls the SDP “a modern extension that helps us innovate faster, expand new use cases, and bring more cross‑border activity on‑chain in a scalable, compliant way.”

Meanwhile, Worldpay Head of Crypto Partnerships asserted that the platform’s payments and issuance modules simplify onchain settlement, “paving the way for new business models and unlocking the full potential of digital assets in everyday commerce.”

The Builders Behind SDP

On the crypto-native side, the Solana Developer program draws heavily on the expertise of some of Solana’s most reputable teams.

Solana Foundation Head of Product Catherine Gu contends that the Solana Developer Platform draws on some of the best features the network has to offer, supported by over 20 infrastructure providers from across the ecosystem.

“Solana Developer Platform provides an easy gateway for any financial institution to build on Solana from day one. It is entirely API-based, removing the technical and operational barriers that enterprise developers may encounter. SDP aggregates the latest protocol features on the Solana network, such as token extensions for permissioning and privacy, and directly connects with Solana’s rich developer ecosystem. At launch, we have over 20 different infrastructure  partners integrated and the early interest we’ve seen from enterprises and institutions signals strong demand.” - Catherine Gu, Head of Product, Digital Assets, Solana Foundation

Partners were selected to provide services across four verticals, node infrastructure, custody solutions, compliance, and off/onramps. 

Additionally, the Solana Developer Platform is compatible with AI coding tools like Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s Codex.

Foundation at Odds with Ecosystem Builders?

For all its efforts to expand the ecosystem as a whole, the Solana Foundation has come under fire from network participants in recent weeks. 

Representatives of the non-profit have been accused of ‘rage-baiting’ the crypto community on social media, with President Lily Liu condemning blockchain gaming, and others asserting there’s “too much entitlement” among Solana’s founders.

Bulk co-founder Kobie McGlashen argues that “it feels like Solana is currently having its Ethereum moment, denying reality while execution slowly leaves the chain.” However, one could argue that the prevailing low sentiment among crypto-natives is exacerbated by low asset prices and volatile markets.

The discourse surrounding founder complacency and the Solana Foundation’s role in promoting the ecosystem seems to be caught in a disconnect. 

On one hand, crypto-native teams have expressed frustration at a lack of support from the non-profit. On the other, the Solana Foundation is executing at a high level in the institutional realm, onboarding TradFi giants like Mastercard, Worldpay, and Western Union to the ecosystem, which may funnel activity and capital throughout the network on a longer term time horizon.

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