Institutional crypto custodian Fireblocks adds support for Solana

Fireblocks, an institutional crypto custody platform, has added support for Solana's native token SOL.

The move means more than 800 institutional clients of Fireblocks will now be able to send, receive, custody, or stake SOL with the firm.

"Support for the native Solana token has been much anticipated by Fireblocks customers," said Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov. "Within the first weekend of announcing support for SOL, we saw close to 25% of all Solana volume taking place on the Fireblocks platform."

Fireblocks is also looking to support Solana-based tokens before the end of the first quarter of this year. That support would help Fireblocks' clients to access decentralized finance (DeFi) as the firm provides access to decentralized exchanges and protocols.

Fireblocks currently supports over 1000 tokens and 30 blockchains. When asked why it took time to add support for Solana, Shaulov told The Block that the firm was developing support for Solana in "most secure and scalable way."

"We also ensured the infrastructure was designed to support new capabilities for SPL tokens [Solana Program Library or Solana-based tokens] and DeFi," said Shaulov.