Jito Foundation and Solana Company (HSDT) team up to expand institutional staking across Asia-Pacific

Jito Foundation and Solana Company (NASDAQ: HSDT) have announced a strategic partnership to deploy institutional-grade Solana validator infrastructure and staking products across the Asia-Pacific region, targeting asset managers and financial firms in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea.

The two Solana juggernauts plan to jointly operate high-performance Solana validators anchored by Pacific Backbone, Solana Company’s institutional infrastructure network which cuts across four different APAC markets. The validators will run Jito’s Block Assembly Marketplace (known as BAM), which connects to Jito’s block-building layer and enables optimized transaction processing on the Solana network.

The partnership also includes co-developing staking and yield products built around JitoSOL, Jito’s liquid staking token. These products are designed for institutional capital firms, including asset managers, wealth managers, and other regulated financial entities.

“APAC is one of the most important regions for institutional crypto adoption, and this partnership reflects our commitment to building the infrastructure and relationships we believe are needed to support that growth,” Marc Liew, Head of APAC at the Jito Foundation, said in a statement.

Another week, another APAC push!

The Jito Foundation is partnering with @Solana_Company (NASDAQ: HSDT) to bring institutional Solana infrastructure to APAC.

Both entities will run BAM validators across Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea using the Pacific Backbone, a… pic.twitter.com/DYMZjTSf3z

— Jito (@jito_sol) May 6, 2026

Who are the partners

Solana Company is a publicly listed digital asset treasury that holds roughly $180 million worth of SOL (Solana’s native token). The company trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker HSDT and was created in partnership with Pantera and Summer Capital. It implemented a 1-for-50 reverse stock split in June 2025, and shares were trading at $2.19 on Tuesday.

Teddy Hung, Head of Business Development and Advisory at Solana Company, framed the partnership as meeting existing demand rather than speculative positioning. “Institutional blockchain adoption is no longer a question of if, but of what and how,” Hung said. He added that the partnership combining Jito’s technology with Pacific Backbone is intended to help APAC institutions engage with Solana “compliantly, and to institutional standards.”

Jito operates as a liquid staking and MEV (maximal extractable value) platform at the core of Solana’s validator economy. It issues the JitoSOL liquid staking token and coordinates ecosystem development through the Jito DAO. Last year, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) invested $50 million in Jito through a strategic private token sale, as reported by Cryptopolitan.

What the Jito Foundation and Solana Company partnership covers

The collaboration has three core areas in its development. First, the joint deployment and operation of validators running Jito’s BAM across Pacific Backbone’s four-market footprint. Second, the development of JitoSOL-based staking products tailored for institutional compliance and operations. Third, a coordinated go-to-market strategy for the APAC region that includes research, educational initiatives, and industry engagements focused on institutional staking and validator operations.

The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the partnership or a specific timeline for deploying the first validators.

Institutional interest in crypto infrastructure has continued to grow across Asia-Pacific markets. Hong Kong has moved to regulate and license crypto exchanges. Singapore has maintained its position as a digital asset hub. Japan and South Korea both have established regulatory frameworks for crypto assets. The partnership positions both organizations to capture institutional demand in a region where compliance requirements vary by jurisdiction, but appetite for regulated staking exposure appears to be rising.