Stop building Solana startups like it’s 2021. In 2026, speed on
@solana doesn’t come from bigger teams, it comes from using the right stack.
A serious Solana stack now looks something like this:
Core build layer
• Smart contracts → Rust / Anchor
• Testing & simulation → LiteSVM
• RPC / infra → Helius / QuickNode / Chainstack
• Client SDKs → Solana Kit / web3.js
• Indexing & data → Helius DAS / Shyft / Triton
• Wallet connectivity → Solana Wallet Adapter / Reown / Phantom
• Editor → VS Code / Cursor
Security & reliability
• Audits → OtterSec / Neodyme / Sec3
• Fuzzing → Trident
• Static analysis → Soteria / Sec3
• Runtime user protection → Blowfish / Blockaid / Phantom security UX
Product layer
• Oracles →
@PythNetwork / Switchboard
• Payments → Solana Pay / Sphere / Helio / Crossmint
• Stablecoins & settlement → USDC by
@circle / PYUSD by PayPal Paxos / USDCV by SG-FORGE
• Treasury → Squads
• RWA / tokenized assets →
@OndoFinance / Maple / Credix / Parcl / Homebase
• DeFi liquidity →
@JupiterExchange / Orca / Raydium / Kamino / Drift
• Actions & Blinks → Dialect / TipLink
• Token data → Birdeye / DexScreener / Jupiter APIs
• Onchain analytics → Dune / Step Finance / TopLedger / Flipside
Founder leverage
• Research → Perplexity / Claude
• Execution & automation → GPT / Gemini / Cursor
• Founder ops → Linear / Notion
• Narrative & distribution → X / LinkedIn / Paragraph / Mirror
The bigger point: Solana’s advantage is not only speed anymore. The next serious Solana startups will be built on top of mature infrastructure: payments, stablecoins, treasury, tokenized assets, analytics, wallets, oracles and security. That means teams can focus less on rebuilding the basics and more on building products users actually trust.
What would you add to the 2026 Solana stack?