Solana Foundation President Discusses Stablecoin Adoption and Blockchain Payments at Consensus Miami 2026

Solana Foundation President Lily Liu told attendees at Consensus Miami 2026 on Tuesday that stablecoin adoption by major firms validates the network as financial infrastructure for both human and machine economies. Liu argued that Western Union adopting Solana for stablecoin payments and Meta integrating stablecoin payments on Solana demonstrate enterprises viewing blockchain rails as practical infrastructure.

She noted that Visa decided in 2023 to build stablecoin settlement capabilities on Solana following an extensive objective review of blockchain networks.

"Fast and cheap is a no-brainer for payments," Liu said, while adding that enterprises also need deep liquidity, developers and a broad ecosystem of applications. Western Union was always the "white whale" for crypto when Liu first came into the industry in 2014.

The executive, who serves as President of the Solana Foundation, described the company's move onto blockchain infrastructure as a particularly meaningful milestone. Liu said blockchain-based payments are uniquely suited for "agentic commerce" where AI agents transact autonomously with other machines and services.

Traditional internet payment systems are heavily dependent on credit cards which make micropayments economically impractical because of interchange fees.

Blockchain rails enable sub-dollar transactions and real-time payment streaming. "The vast majority of transactions that happen on the internet are actually of microtransaction value," Liu said. " Liu also defended the Solana ecosystem's recent interventions following security incidents involving projects such as Vault and Drift.

She said preserving industry confidence sometimes outweighs competitive rivalries inside decentralized finance. Blockchains are financial rails first and foremost, Liu stated. She added that crypto’s longer-term promise could extend into "internet capital markets" allowing companies and sovereign entities worldwide to access global capital formation more directly.

The speech at Consensus Miami 2026, which took place on May 6, 2026, occurred against a backdrop of significant corporate cryptocurrency exposure. 54 billion Q1 net loss. The firm is holding 818,334 bitcoin at an average cost of $75,537.

Liu's remarks underscored Solana's positioning at the intersection of payments, artificial intelligence and capital markets as traditional financial players deepen their involvement with blockchain technology.