cryptopolitan.com
The Solana Foundation has launched a platform that combines the APIs of over 20 Solana infrastructure providers in one place, making it easier for companies to build and launch their financial products.
MasterCard, Worldpay and Western Union have been named as the first builders on the SDP. All three companies use the platform differently: Mastercard for stablecoin settlement, Worldpay for merchant payments and settlement, and Western Union for cross-border payments.
What does the Solana Developer Platform do?
The Solana Foundation has launched the Solana Developer Platform (SDP), which allows enterprises and financial institutions to build and launch financial products on Solana entirely through APIs.
The SDP’s three core API modules include the issuance module, the payment module and the trading module.
The issuance module lets users issue tokenized deposits, GENIUS-compliant stablecoins, or tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).
The payments module allows users to convert fiat to crypto (on-ramp), convert crypto to fiat (off-ramp) and send stablecoin on-chain for B2B, B2C, and P2P use cases.
Unlike the issuance and payment modules, the trading module is yet to go live, but it enables financial operations such as atomic swaps, vaults, and on-chain foreign exchange.
The infrastructure partners for SDP were selected across node infrastructure, wallets, compliance, and ramps in order to address the specific needs of institutions entering the market. The platform also works out of the box with AI coding platforms like Claude Code by Anthropic and Codex by OpenAI.
Institutional SDP usage
Three major financial companies are confirmed as early users of the platform, each with a distinct use case. Mastercard is using SDP for stablecoin settlement, Worldpay for merchant payments and settlement, and Western Union for cross-border payments.
Raj Dhamodharan, the Executive Vice President of Blockchain and Digital Assets at Mastercard, said the company is helping enable direct stablecoin settlement for customers on select blockchain networks starting with Solana.
Western Union’s VP of Digital Assets, Malcolm Clarke, described SDP as a modern extension of what Western Union already does, but with an added on-chain layer for fiat and stablecoin operations.
Worldpay’s Head of Crypto Partnerships, Ahmed Zifzaf, said the platform allows merchants to access on-chain settlement and tokenized assets.
Mastercard announced this week that it will acquire the stablecoin infrastructure startup BVNK for $1.8 billion in order to add digital dollars to its payment network. Similarly, Stripe acquired the stablecoin startup Bridge and the crypto wallet firm Privy.
Earlier this month, Stripe and Tempo launched the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), an open standard that lets AI agents pay for services like data or computing power without human approval at each step.
It currently works with stablecoins, cards, and other supported payment methods. Visa has already contributed to the protocol by developing specifications for letting agents pay with credit or debit cards.
Solana announced on X that it now supports the MPP, meaning any developer building an API that needs to accept payments can handle any stablecoin on Solana through the protocol.