Pantera-backed Solana Company kicks off APAC staking infrastructure buildout

Solana Company (NASDAQ: HSDT) is kicking off an infrastructure buildout in the Asia-Pacific region, a first step in directly supporting Solana staking and validator operations.

This so-called Pacific Backbone initiative will involve developing a high-speed, low-latency network initially starting with connections between Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, and Hong Kong, according to an announcement on Monday.

"The reality is, we see an opportunity to improve Solana staking and validation for users across Asia," said Cosmo Jiang, general partner at Pantera Capital Management, a major HSDT backer. "We believe this investment roadmap will be critical for anyone holding and building on Solana and we expect it to diversify our revenue."

Pantera, alongside Summer Capital, co-led the more than $500 million funding round that launched the Solana Company in September amid the so-called digital asset treasury investment trend that has since reversed. The firm was initially pitched as a SOL token holding vehicle that would also invest in other Solana operations.

Project Backbone will address gaps in Solana's network coverage in the APAC region, helping to reduce staking and validation costs while boosting performance to meet the needs of market makers, high-frequency traders, and other Solana partners. Using "state-of-the-art hardware" may help capture "more value within the staking business," according to the statement.

"In order to target mass adoption, Solana Company intends to build out DeFi, liquid staking, AMMs, RPC services, and execution services for its traditional finance partners in the APAC region," the firm noted. "Solana Company plans to begin building out the network infrastructure immediately, expanding to optimizing performance and adopting new technologies by the second half of 2026, and anticipates launching liquidity related new products and services within the next 12 to 18 months."

Earlier this month, the firm partnered with Anchorage Digital and Kamino on a joint venture to enable institutions to borrow against natively staked SOL while keeping assets in custody.

The Solana Company has held over 2.2 million SOL since it began acquiring tokens in October, making it the second-largest publicly traded holder, according to The Block's data. The total staked amount of Solana by public companies has largely held consistent despite a market retrenching that has seen Solana DAT valuations crater to all-time lows in recent days.

HSDT shares were down 8.3% Monday morning. Other crypto-related stocks are in the red on Monday, with bellwether crypto stock Coinbase down over 3% and major Ethereum treasury firm Bitmine down over 4%, according to The Block’s equities tracker. The biggest loser is small-cap Bitcoin treasury Prenetics, which is down over 7%.

HSDT is down over 90% since the firm first pivoted towards its Solana-related strategy in September. The firm, formerly Helius Medical Technologies, reportedly maintains its neurotech and medical device operations.