Solana Q3 2026 Earnings Results & Report

Solana EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $1.17
• Consensus EPS: -$0.01
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$1.18
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A
• EPS Beat Rate: 4 of last 6 quarters

Solana Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $3.36 million
• Expected Revenue: $2.85 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$510.00 thousand
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Solana (NASDAQ:HSDT) is a digital asset company focused on building a treasury centered on Solana’s native cryptocurrency, SOL. Its activities include acquiring and holding SOL and developing strategies intended to provide investors with exposure to the Solana blockchain ecosystem through a publicly traded company.

The company is associated with the Solana network, a blockchain platform designed to support decentralized applications, digital assets and smart contracts. Its business may also include participating in the broader Solana ecosystem and pursuing opportunities related to blockchain infrastructure and digital asset growth.

Solana previously operated as Helius Medical Technologies, a medical technology company that developed the Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator, or PoNS, for rehabilitation applications. The company’s current focus represents a significant shift from its former medical-device business. Specific information about its current operating leadership and geographic footprint was not available.

Solana Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue rose to $3.4 million from $2.5 million in the prior quarter, with staking rewards contributing $3.3 million. Pacific Backbone had 1 million SOL in third-party stake at quarter end, growing to approximately 1.5 million by November 3.
• Positive Sentiment: Treasury staking yield averaged 5.9% APY, 100 basis points above the network average. Management said it expects to maintain an outperformance gap, though the size may fluctuate as staking economics and validator performance change.
• Positive Sentiment: The company repurchased 1.4 million shares below net asset value during the quarter, then raised approximately $14.3 million net in an offering priced at a 5% premium to NAV and used the proceeds to buy about 125,000 SOL. Management said both actions were intended to increase SOL per share.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported third-quarter net income was $105.2 million, but it included a $102.7 million unrealized gain on digital assets, largely reflecting SOL’s price recovery; the gain was non-cash. Management said operating costs were at their lowest level yet, while expenses may rise from the current rate as the business grows and third-party stake growth may slow in the fourth quarter.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss Solana Company's operating results for the third quarter of 2026, ended September 30th, 2026. The third quarter 2026 earnings press release was issued today, November 11th, at approximately 4:25 P.M. Eastern Time, and is available in the Investor Relations section of Solana Company's website. Joining us today are Joseph Chee, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Cosmo Jiang, Director of Solana Company and General Partner at Pantera Capital, and Madelene Gani, Chief Financial Officer. All participants are in listen-only mode. Following management's prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone keypad. Today's call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the call over to Jake Morakis with M Group Strategic Communications for introductory comments. Please go ahead.

[Jake Morakis, Account Supervisor at M Group Strategic Communications]

Thank you, operator. Before we begin, I would like to inform you that comments and responses to questions during today's call reflect management's views as of today, November 11th, 2026 only, and includes forward-looking statements and opinion statements, including predictions, estimates, plans, expectations, and other similar information. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied as a result of certain risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties are more fully described in our press release issued today in the sections entitled Risk Factors in our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, on March 31st, 2026, and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as well as in subsequent filings with the SEC. Our SEC filings can be found on our website or on the SEC's website.

[Jake Morakis, Account Supervisor at M Group Strategic Communications]

Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. We disclaim any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements. Please note that this conference call will be available for audio replay on our website under the News and Events section of our Investor Relations page. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Solana Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Chee.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Thank you, Jake. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Solana Company's third quarter 2026 earnings call. On our Q1 call earlier this year, I introduced Solana Company's self-reinforcing flywheel. On our Q2 call, I said we have reinforced the flywheel, validated cluster live in Tokyo, third-party stake secured, and putting the legacy business behind us. The third quarter is when the flywheel started to turn. This integrated strategy is now beginning to bear fruit. Our third quarter operating costs reached their lowest level yet, below that of Q1, as we continue to streamline operations while simultaneously executing our dynamic treasury management plan. Cosmo and Maddie will share the details of those achievements in their respective areas. Three developments that defined the quarter. First, our Pacific Backbone infrastructure moved from build-out to operation.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Third-party stake on our Tokyo validator reached 1 million SOL at quarter end, and as we had anticipated, began contributing to our revenue in the third quarter. Second, as SOL price rallied and our discount in the asset narrowed, we put the other side of capital toolkit to work. on September 30th, we priced an approximately $15 million registered direct offering with a global institutional investor at a 5% premium to net asset value per shares at $3.43 per share. The offering closed on October 1st. We subsequently used the proceeds from the offering to purchase approximately 125,000 SOL in support of our commitment to put more SOL behind every share. Third, our treasury continued to work for shareholders as well.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Staking rewards attributed to our treasury holdings and validator operation contributed to $3.3 million revenue on 30,767 SOL earned in the third quarter, further bolstering our treasury and compounding returns. Before I detail the company's business operation for the quarter, I would like to take a moment to touch on developments in the Solana ecosystem. The third quarter was another strong period for institutional adoption of Solana, and much of that momentum came from Asia Pacific. Tokenization continued to accelerate. Solana's on-chain real-world asset market set a new all-time high of approximately $3.7 billion in July, surpassed $4 billion in August, and climbed above $4.6 billion by late September. In July, tokenized SK hynix shares went live on Solana on the same day the Korean chip maker debuted on Nasdaq, giving eligible investors around the world 24/7 on-chain access to one of Asia's largest technology companies.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Asia Pacific institutions moved decisively. In Japan, SBI Holdings formed a strategic partnership with the Solana Foundation, focused on yen stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and cross-border payments. SBI Global Asset Management and DigiFT launched the JX token for on-chain access to a Japanese equity fund strategy. In Korea, Shinhan Asset Management, which oversees approximately $97 billion, signed an MOU with the Solana Foundation for a won-denominated tokenized fund. Payment processor KSNet agreed to bring Solana Pay to more than 330,000 merchants. In September, Project Harmonia was announced to connect Allfunds distribution network of more than 3,300 asset managers and financial institutions with Solana. Regulated access to SOL also widened. Morgan Stanley Investment Management launched a Solana trust that intends to stake and pass rewards through to investors. E*TRADE added spot trade SOL trading. Charles Schwab announced plans to add SOL.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF became the first U.S. Solana ETF to pass $1 billion in assets. In Japan, the National Diet, which is the national parliament of Japan, reclassified crypto assets as financial instruments, laying the legal foundation for spot crypto ETFs. The network itself kept improving. Block capacity rose 66%. Block times fell from 400 to 200 milliseconds. Alpenglow, the most significant upgrade to Solana's consensus protocol since launch, went live on October 21st, with the goal of cutting transaction finality from roughly 12.8 seconds to about 150 milliseconds. We believe that is performance that institutional involvement in the ecosystem requires. Each of these developments helps to expand institutional interest in Solana, and the market opportunity for Solana Company to serve as a trusted provider advisory, staking, and validation services across the ecosystem.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

The third quarter also brought Solana's first on-chain governance vote, and we were proud to participate directly. As a validator operator and one of the largest publicly listed holders of SOL, we believe we have a responsibility to participate and to do so transparently. We published our positions in advance so that our delegators could vote with full knowledge of the operator's view. We voted for SGP-0001, the Solana Constitution, which passed with broad support. We voted against SGP-0002 and SGP-0003, not because we oppose their long-term goals, but because we believe established network economics should not change during the first live governance cycle. Stake-weighted governance worked as intended and provides long-term stakers like us a direct voice in the network we are building on. As I committed to last quarter, I will update you on each of our three service lines every quarter. First, advisory services.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

We provide bespoke advisory for traditional financial institutions and corporations, helping them unlock tangible business value through blockchain adoption. During the quarter, our team held over 40 institutional education sessions and workshops with banks, asset managers, exchanges across Asia-Pacific. We continue to see increasing enthusiasm around exploring new use cases for tokenizing stablecoin transactions. We also continue to make the case for institutional Solana adoption in public. In August, I spoke at the HSBC Asia Fintech Summit at Cyberport in Hong Kong, in September at Solana Summit Korea in Seoul. One point I made at HSBC bears repeating here. We believe tokenization works best when it starts with assets they already have deep liquidity and real demand, and expand outward from there.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

That is how we advise our clients, and the reason we believe institutions coming on chain in our region are starting to with stablecoins, funds, and listed equities. Second, validator infrastructure. Pacific Backbone is a compliant, high-performance infrastructure that we believe regulated institutions require in order to scale staking validation on Solana. Last quarter, we said we had secured third-party stake and expected to report validated results for the third quarter. As of September 30th, Pacific Backbone has been delegated approximately 1.3 million SOL of total stake, including 1 million delegated by third parties. That has continued to grow since quarter end to approximately 1.5 million SOL of total stake as of November 3rd. This is what we have been working toward. Institutions are moving real size onto infrastructure operated by a Nasdaq-listed regulated entity, and that stake is now producing recurring fee-based revenue beyond our own treasury.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Our Tokyo cluster continues to run on three machines operating as a single validator, providing us redundancy and independent test environment ahead of each new deployment. Beyond Tokyo, we are assessing Hong Kong as our next location. We are also pursuing ISO 27001 certification, which we are targeting for the fourth quarter of 2026. Finally, the platform business. Our AI-powered orchestration and compliance stack remains a long-term build. When complete, it is expected to bring our staking, validation, and advisory lines together, giving partners a single point of execution across their digital asset operations. These three service lines feed one another. Advisory identifies where institutions need infrastructure. Infrastructure generates recurring fee revenue that is uncorrelated NAV. That revenue recycles into SOL accumulation. A larger, better-run treasury is what we believe makes us a more credible counterparty for the next institutions exploring Solana infrastructure.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

In the third quarter, that loop began producing revenue. Building on that foundation, we were recently selected by the Hong Kong SAR Government Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises, OASES, as a strategic enterprise, the only digital asset infrastructure company to receive that designation in 2026. As part of the partnership, we are expecting to establish a headquarters in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is now where Asia's institutions are coming on chain, and we intend to be there building alongside them. With that, let me hand over the call to Cosmo to walk through our treasury and capital markets results.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

Thanks, Joseph. Hello, everyone. Last quarter, I said execution had surpassed scale as the key differentiator amongst digital asset treasury companies. The third quarter tested that view from a different direction. After declines in each of the first two quarters, SOL rose approximately 60% during the third quarter, from roughly $74 to roughly $118. Institutional channels into SOL also broadened. U.S. spot Solana ETFs recorded 11 consecutive weeks of inflows, and major investing and wealth management platforms added SOL access. We welcome the extended access to SOL for investors, but we believe the value proposition of Solana Company remains fundamentally advantageous to holding SOL via an ETF or a brokerage account. An ETF or brokerage gives you SOL.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

We aim to give you more SOL per share over time through staking yield above the network average, accretive capital allocation on both sides, and operating businesses that generate revenue independent of the SOL price. Moving on to staking performance. Net staking yield is the annualized yield we realize on our staked SOL after validator commissions and related operating costs compared against the Solana network's system-wide average over the same period. For the third quarter of 2026, our average net staking yield attributable to our treasury holdings was 5.9% APY, compared with a network average of approximately 4.9% APY, representing outperformance of 100 basis points. That yield comes from careful validator selection, active MEV capture, and continuous rebalancing. Staking rewards are automatically restaked to compound returns, producing consistent daily on-chain revenue.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

A portion of our treasury is now staked to our own Pacific Backbone validator, as we have translated our learnings from third parties to boosting our internal performance. Our capital allocation framework has not changed. Issue only at a premium to net asset value, repurchase only at a discount, and judge every decision by whether it adds SOL per share. At the start of the quarter, our shares traded below NAV, and we continued to repurchase under our previously authorized stock repurchase program. During the third quarter, we repurchased 1.4 million shares at a discount to NAV, or an average price of $1.96 per share, for approximately $2.8 million, bringing year-to-date repurchases to approximately 8.7 million. As SOL recovered and our discount to NAV narrowed, the opportunity changed.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

On September 30th, we priced a registered direct offering with a global institutional investor of 4,369,356 shares at $3.433 per share, a 5% premium to net asset value per share, which offering closed on October 1st. The investor also received warrants to purchase an equal number of shares at an exercise price of $3.776 per share. We received gross proceeds of approximately $15 million and net proceeds of approximately $14.3 million. We used those proceeds to purchase approximately 125,000 SOL. We believe being able to act on both sides of the capital structure as conditions change is one of the most powerful tools we have for creating shareholder value, with each action being accretive to SOL per share.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

As of September 30th, 2026, Solana Company held approximately 2.4 million SOL across all categories, including liquid holdings, staked positions, and receivables, with a fair value of approximately $288 million, approximately $1.1 million of cash and cash equivalents, approximately $1 million of cash receivables, and a $15 million payable for unsettled SOL purchases. Our diluted share count on a Treasury Stock Method basis was approximately 85.2 million shares, including common shares outstanding and in-the-money warrants and in-the-money stock options and RSUs. That equates to 0.0274 SOL per Treasury Stock Method diluted shares after adjusting for unsettled SOL purchases and assumed conversion of cash and cash equivalents and cash receivables to SOL. I will now turn the call over to Madelene Gani, our Chief Financial Officer, for the detailed financial results.

[Madelene Gani, CFO at Solana Company]

Thank you, Cosmo. Third quarter revenue was $3.4 million, consisting of $3.3 million of staking revenue, which includes rewards on our treasury and revenue from third-party stake on Pacific Backbone, and $23,000 of other revenue. This compares with $697,000 in the third quarter of 2025 and $2.5 million in the second quarter of 2026. For the first nine months of 2026, revenue was $9.5 million, comprising $9.3 million of staking revenue, which includes rewards of our treasury and revenue from third-party stake on Pacific Backbone, and $241,000 of other revenue, compared with $789,000 in the prior year period. Cost of revenue for the third quarter was $617,000, resulting in gross profit of $2.7 million, or a gross margin of approximately 82%. For the first nine months, cost of revenue was $874,000 and gross profit was $8.6 million.

[Madelene Gani, CFO at Solana Company]

General and administrative expenses for the third quarter were $3.4 million, compared with $11.1 million in the second quarter, which included approximately $6.8 million of non-recurring severance associated with the PoNS divestiture and approximately $5.2 million in the first quarter. For the first nine months, general and administrative expenses was $19.7 million. Last quarter, we said we expected G&A to decline and normalize towards first quarter levels as the PoNS cost basis came out in full. Third quarter G&A came in below first quarter levels and includes $0.6 million of non-cash stock-based compensation. Turning over to digital asset fair value movements. During the quarter, we recorded an unrealized gain on digital assets and digital asset receivables of $102.7 million, reflecting the recovery in the SOL price, a realized loss on digital assets of $1.1 million, and an unrealized gain on our digital asset fund investment of $1.3 million.

[Madelene Gani, CFO at Solana Company]

For the first nine months, those figures were $15.9 million, $33.5 million, and $0.6 million respectively. As a reminder, these fair value movements are non-cash under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. They do not affect our cash balance, the tokens earned from staking activities, or the quantity of SOL we hold. Income from operations was $103.9 million for the third quarter, compared with a loss of $32.7 million in the second quarter. For the first nine months, loss from operations was $28.4 million. Non-operating income, net, was $1.3 million for the quarter, including a $1.7 million gain from the change in fair value of our derivative liability, partially offset by other expenses of $0.4 million, which relates primarily to our investment in a licensed Hong Kong trust company. We reported net income for the third quarter of 2026 of $105.2 million.

[Madelene Gani, CFO at Solana Company]

This compares with a net loss of $352.8 million in the third quarter of 2025. For the first nine months, net loss was $24.9 million. This compares with a net loss of $366.4 million in the first nine months of 2025. Turning over to the balance sheet. As of September 30th, 2026, we had total assets of $292.6 million, including $1.1 million of cash and cash equivalents, $21 million of current digital assets, $14.8 million of digital assets receivable from broker, and $252.4 million of long-term digital assets and digital asset exposure across stake positions, restricted assets, receivables, and fund investments. Total liabilities were $19.1 million, including a derivative liability of $2.5 million, and total stockholder and mezzanine equity was $273.6 million. As of September 30th, treasury stock stood at $8.7 million, representing 4.4 million shares at cost, compared with $5.9 million and 2.9 million shares at June 30.

[Madelene Gani, CFO at Solana Company]

Subsequent to quarter end, on October 1st, we closed the registered direct offering Cosmo described, issuing 4,369,356 shares and an equal number of warrants for gross proceeds of approximately $15 million and net proceeds of approximately $14.3 million. We also repurchased 1,957,525 shares for $4.4 million. I will now hand it back to Joseph for closing remarks.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Thank you, Madelene, and thank you all for joining Solana Company's third quarter 2026 operating results update. This was a milestone quarter for Solana Company, as our strategic vision for the integrated flywheel took root and began contributing to revenue. We also continued to advance and deliver on our commitments from the prior quarter. We said we expected to scale Pacific Backbone and recognize our first validator-related rewards in the third quarter. Third-party stake on Pacific Backbone is live and now contributing to our staking revenue. We said we would continue to execute our capital allocation strategy. We repurchased stocks when it traded below NAV, and when we had the opportunity to raise capital at premium NAV, we took it. Both actions serve the same goal, more SOL behind every share. We intend to continue that positive momentum. Three priorities will define our fourth quarter.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

First, we plan to grow Pacific Backbone's third-party stake, complete our assessment of Hong Kong as our next validator location, and work towards ISO 27001 certification. Second, we plan to use our planned new regional headquarters in Hong Kong to bring more institutions onto Solana and grow our staking offering. Third, we plan to keep compounding SOL per share, having already deployed the proceeds into SOL with the same discipline we have applied all year. We look forward to updating shareholders on our progress in the quarters ahead. Operator, please open the call for questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. You will hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. We also ask that you please wait for your name and company to be announced before proceeding with your question. One moment while we compile the Q and A roster. Our first question is coming from the line of Fedor Shabalin of B. Riley. Please go ahead.

[Fedor Shabalin, Analyst at B. Riley]

Thank you very much, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for the update, and thanks for taking my question. My first one is, could you break down the 100 basis points outperformance that was recorded in third quarter? Specifically, how much comes from validator commission you keep on your own stake, and how much from MEV and Jito tips and priority fees, and how much from uptime and vote credit performance at Pacific Backbone, if it is? Thank you.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Hey, Fedor. Thanks for the questions. That is a detailed fee breakdown. Maddie, do you have the detail?

[Madelene Gani, CFO at Solana Company]

I do not have it handy right now. I am happy to follow up on that. But essentially, for the $3.4 million of revenue, we have 31,000 of staking rewards, of which approximately 29,000 units pertain to our individual SOL and the rest from third party.

[Fedor Shabalin, Analyst at B. Riley]

Okay, thank you. Maybe, follow up on this, on sustainability of this outperformance. Should we think that this spread is durable going forward?

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

So one more time, what is durable, Fedor?

[Fedor Shabalin, Analyst at B. Riley]

This outperformance versus generic Solana staking yield.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Okay. You are talking about how we manage our own Solana with third party? Are you talking about the Solana we are staking with our network?

[Fedor Shabalin, Analyst at B. Riley]

Yeah, I just want to figure out if it is fair to assume that your outperformance with 1%, is it fair assumption to keep it going forward for future periods, or if it kind of depends on many things?

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Fedor, I guess we are not providing a forward-looking statement here. I think if you look at our performance the last three quarters, we have been managing our SOL inventory quite well with other staking partners that provide services to us. The best person to talk about this is probably Cosmo, but I would think that the way we are managing it with third party is still going to continue, and I would think that we should be able to continue to outperform. As for the SOL that been staked on our own validator infrastructure, after the beta and we can see the performance getting better and better, I think we are doing quite well. Maybe I should stop here and see if Cosmo has anything to add.

[Fedor Shabalin, Analyst at B. Riley]

Okay, thank you.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

Track record over the last three quarters.

[Fedor Shabalin, Analyst at B. Riley]

No, no.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

Can you hear me? Sorry.

[Fedor Shabalin, Analyst at B. Riley]

Yeah, go ahead. Sorry.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

Oh, yeah. I think you can look at our track record from the last three quarters as a good directional. Directionally, we have been able to perform pretty consistently above the benchmark. There are a number of things that go into that. One of them is validator selection. There is a fair amount of dispersion amongst the validators, and there are certain customizations that we can agree to with our validators to get to these higher yields. I would say that the other factor that has been within our control is our ability to leverage our strong relationships and alliances with these validators to get differentiated economics that they may not offer to other parties. Both those, I think, are pretty durable. I think some things that are less controllable, and we will see, is that staking economics on Solana do change over time.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

Recently, with the Solana's Alpenglow upgrade, there has been some changes to the amount of additional rewards that go to leaders, and that has created a lot more volatility in the stream of validator rewards. That is one consideration, and so there may be a little bit more randomness going forward. The other consideration is that there have been major upgrades across one of the large validator clients recently that had been lagging for a while, and so that validator client has now come back to parity with some of the other major validator clients. It is possible that the average is getting pulled up because some people are catching up in their techniques that other people had.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

When there is less dispersion amongst validators, then inherently, if we are picking the best, but other people are catching up to the best, then the gap may also close a little bit. So we are seeing some of those impacts this quarter, but these are things that do vary over time, and there are constantly new techniques that are being innovated. We anticipate that we should be able to maintain some performance gap, but that gap might be volatile quarter-to-quarter.

[Fedor Shabalin, Analyst at B. Riley]

That is super helpful. Lastly, more broad, Solana tokenized real-world assets are moving up notably, yet SOL token is down roughly 30% from its late September high. Maybe it is a good time to take a step back and rehash what is the transmission mechanism from tokenization to Solana demand. If you can just outline the basics. Thank you.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

Yeah. Look, what we've been seeing is that blockchain activity does tend to have some reflexivity to asset prices. As asset prices come down, we do see activity tend to trend down. This past quarter, when we saw activity pick up again, transaction fees did also pick up on Solana. We also saw the growth of real-world assets, and in particular, tokenized equities over this last quarter really grow across blockchains in general, but also on Solana. That did lead to more transaction fees, which leads obviously to better economics for stakers, but also holders of Solana.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

We feel very optimistic on a number of these drivers continuing, including the idea of tokenized equities can even be traded more broadly across the world in larger volume, and more DeFi applications getting involved in becoming these next-generation on-chain prime brokers to really even further enable tokenized equity to take off. Then we have the advent of prediction markets that are being experimented on Solana. Certainly, perpetual futures are also a big growth avenue for Solana. We're hopeful that some of these, in addition to potentially new areas like collectibles trading and other things, collectibles trading, stablecoin transactions, payment volumes may continue to increase on the Solana blockchain, and all that should result in higher transaction fees and higher economics for Solana owners.

[Fedor Shabalin, Analyst at B. Riley]

That's very helpful. Thank you very much.

[Cosmo Jiang, Director at Solana Company]

I wanted to just circle back, actually, on one of your questions on the staking yield. We were able to pull up the numbers. Of the 5.9% APY that we had in the quarter, roughly 5.1 was inflationary rewards or emissions. Roughly 50 basis points were block rewards, and roughly 20 basis points were MEV.

[Fedor Shabalin, Analyst at B. Riley]

That's helpful. Thanks very much, Cosmo and Joseph and Madelene, and continue best of luck.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for the next question. Our next question is coming from the line of Matthew Galinko of Maxim Group. Please go ahead.

[Matthew Galinko, SVP and Analyst at Maxim Group]

Hey, thanks for taking my questions. Maybe first, can we get some sense directionally of OpEx or how we might think OpEx moves in fourth quarter, or even into the first quarter, particularly as you're signaling opening an office in Hong Kong and further build-out of your validator infrastructure? So, I'm just curious if directionally we should be moving up, or even normalization towards that first quarter level. Thanks.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Hey, good to see you online again, Matthew. Maddie, do you want to take that question?

[Madelene Gani, CFO at Solana Company]

Sure. Cos, thanks for asking that question, Matthew. As we don't give any guidance on forward-looking OpEx, I think in general, we continue to optimize for our G&A. At the same time, as the business grows, we would expect an increase in expenses. To answer your question, we would probably normalize between what our current rate is and what our historic rate, something in between.

[Matthew Galinko, SVP and Analyst at Maxim Group]

Okay, thank you. Maybe you provided a few numbers around your third-party staking volumes. Can you give us maybe just qualitatively, is the trajectory there in line or exceeding internal expectations, or how is that performing relative to what you were targeting? Thanks.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Thank you. Again, from my perspective, if you look at third-party SOL that coming in, frankly, that's above our expectation. Indeed, the whole infrastructure only came online in July, it was in beta. If you look at it, I guess, the external delegation only started very late July, I think July 31st, and it started with a few hundred thousand. We thought we'll take because we haven't even started marketing very aggressively because it's a beta phase, and then it actually went up a lot quicker than we thought. I think, again, this could be now that we are going to building another node in Hong Kong, and then we are going through the ISO certification, and it's getting close to the end of the year.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

If I want to be prudent, I would think that the kind of growth rate we're seeing in this third-party SOL going from a few hundred thousand to over 1 million SOL is probably going to slow down a bit in fourth quarter. I don't think it's going to go from here on to 3 million by the end of quarter, just an example. Let's hope for the best, but I would think that by the first quarter next year, when it comes back, as more and more adoption of Solana happens with the major financial institutions in the region, we'll see more third-party SOL coming to our validator infrastructure.

[Matthew Galinko, SVP and Analyst at Maxim Group]

Great. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. That does conclude today's Q and A session. I would like to turn the call back over to Joseph for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

[Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO at Solana Company]

Great. Thank you. Well, thank you, everyone, for joining the call and also for the good questions. If you have any more questions, please write to us. We will respond, and if you want to have a separate meeting, discuss about anything, happy to arrange as well. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Thank you for joining today's program. This does conclude today's program and remarks. Thank you so much. You have a great day, and you may disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Joseph Chee, Chairman and CEO
• Cosmo Jiang, Director
• Madelene Gani, CFO

Analysts

• Jake Morakis, Account Supervisor at M Group Strategic Communications
• Fedor Shabalin, Analyst at B. Riley
• Matthew Galinko, SVP and Analyst at Maxim Group