Solana makes a high-profile entry in Shanghai, laying out plans for activities in multiple cities, exploring the commercial logic and compliance boundaries of public chains coming to China.

Written by: Lawyer Liu Honglin

Solana has advertised on the Bund in Shanghai.

On the evening of October 14, the riverside curtain wall of the Citibank Tower in Lujiazui, Shanghai, lit up with the Solana logo, and the official account released a night scene video with the caption "ni hao shanghai" in pinyin. From across the Huangpu River, this leading public chain in the crypto industry greeted Shanghai in a very direct way.

Solana Shanghai Night Scene

Also gaining attention were updates about office spaces in Shanghai. Members of the Solana team and executives from the foundation shared images of their Shanghai office on social media. Simultaneously, there were offline events organized by Solana, with Accelerate China set to kick off in Shanghai on October 16, followed by events in Hangzhou on the 18th, Shenzhen on the 20th, and Beijing on the 22nd.

When viewing the advertising, office space, and activities across four cities together, it's clear that this appearance in the Chinese market is indeed very concentrated. For those accustomed to seeing crypto projects maintain a low profile domestically, this scene inevitably raises many questions: Has the wind changed? Are there new opportunities for domestic Web3? What does Solana want to gain from engaging with Chinese teams? And for Chinese entrepreneurs, after establishing connections with it, what can they leave behind?

All these questions can be summed up in one sentence: What business does Solana really want to do in Shanghai?

Public Chains Also Need to Find Clients

Solana is a globally recognized blockchain public chain project, which can be simply understood as a public blockchain network that allows different teams to develop and run applications on it, with SOL being its native token. However, when a public chain brand comes to China, the people it interacts with may not only be those who buy tokens. Engineers who write code, entrepreneurs who develop products, and companies with overseas clients may all become the targets it hopes to establish contact with.

Suppose a Chinese team develops software aimed at overseas users, needing to handle account permissions, digital asset records, or access some on-chain services in allowed markets. If they are familiar with the tools of a particular chain early on and know the service providers on that chain, it would naturally be easier for that chain to enter the candidate list during product selection later.

My understanding is that Solana's visit to China this time aims to seek the next batch of teams capable of producing products. By getting to know Chinese entrepreneurs and familiarizing them, it hopes they will choose Solana when developing products for the global market, thus turning this investment into a long-term ecological advantage.

Many people look at public chains by first checking the token price, then trading volume, and finally what popular projects exist. These certainly influence market attention. However, from a business perspective, a chain must continually answer one question: Why would the next startup choose to use you?

You can think of the public chain ecosystem as an industrial park that hopes to attract businesses. The park will build infrastructure, host events, and provide support to entice good teams to join. Similarly, public chains will offer development tools, technical support, and funding opportunities, hoping teams will produce products on their networks. The legal nature of the two is different, but the logic of attracting companies and projects shares similarities.

The support programs publicly shared by the Solana Foundation include milestone-based funding and calls for specific projects. Applying teams need to explain the project's value to the network, use of funds, and stage outcomes. These arrangements indicate that attracting developers requires continuous investment.

What do we expect in return for spending money? From an ecological development perspective, it means more usable products and the service demands formed around these products. Applications attract users, and users bring usage, while other teams may continue to develop around existing products. Only when this process functions well can a chain become an infrastructure that enterprises are willing to adopt long-term.

The business benefits here will fall on different participants. Companies developing applications earn product and service revenue; validators maintaining the network receive corresponding rewards according to network rules; and the foundation promotes ecological development by supporting developers. Transactions on the Solana chain require SOL for fee payment, but the relationship between usage, revenues of all parties, and token prices is not a simple one-to-one correspondence.

Thus, seeing it advertising and holding events in Shanghai, I would rather interpret this as an investment in gaining brand recognition and business connections. Whether this can result in valuable projects depends on subsequent cooperation and products. A light show can make people remember a name, but continued corporate usage relies on products and services.

Scale and Boundaries of Business Promotion in Mainland

We know that public chains have both a technical network and a token. Which part it promotes in China and what activities it conducts should be analyzed in detail.

Introducing developers to the technical architecture, demonstrating development tools, and discussing how software is deployed and applications operate have normal space for technical promotion. China has a large number of engineers, product teams, and companies working in overseas markets, so the public chain team’s willingness to engage with them is easily understandable from a business motivation standpoint.

However, if an event shifts from discussing development to urging attendees to purchase tokens, promising returns on token holdings, or guiding people onto trading platforms, the nature of the event changes. There is a line that must be maintained between developer communication and token investment solicitation. The specifics of brand promotion must also comply with advertising regulations and other rules.

Mainland China has historically adopted a regulatory approach that separates the management of technical applications from financial activities related to virtual currencies.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Cyberspace Administration of China have issued guidelines to promote the application and development of blockchain technology, supporting technical research and integrated applications; however, virtual currency trading speculation, token issuance financing, etc., are strictly restricted.

Therefore, while encouraging blockchain technology, prohibiting illegal financial activities related to virtual currencies allows these two matters to coexist. Speaking about technology to developers and selling tokens to investors are not the same thing. The judgment should focus on what the event discusses, what it guides participants to do, and what services are actually provided afterwards.

From this perspective, Solana's effort to win developers in China has understandable business logic. A more valuable observation on this matter is whether it can support Chinese teams in creating applications geared towards the global market, and how these cooperations unfold.

Developing in China, Doing Global Business

For entrepreneurs in mainland China, a more practical concern may be: Can I use a public chain like Solana to develop products aimed at the global market?

Using the technology of public chains does not equate to engaging in virtual currency trading. Chinese teams can research open-source code and develop software to explore product demand globally. The compliance judgment of specific projects should follow the functionalities it offers, the markets it enters, and the users it serves.

For example, one team develops an on-chain data analysis tool for overseas companies, charging through software subscriptions; another team develops trading products, providing token exchanges, asset custody, or revenue services. Even if both use Solana for development, the business obligations involved differ significantly. The former needs to handle data and contracts, while the latter must further assess local financial regulations and licensing requirements.

Entrepreneurs should first identify the market for actual services before designing products. Which users can use it, which functionalities require licensed entities to undertake, who collects and manages the funds, should all be determined before launching. A business allowed in one overseas market may not be replicable in another country or region.

Particularly careful and cautious handling of mainland Chinese users is essential. If the product provides virtual currency exchange, trading mediation, token issuance financing, and other services in mainland China, it will encounter business activities explicitly prohibited by current regulations. Registering a company overseas and having contracts governed by foreign law cannot directly resolve the issue of providing services in mainland China.

Therefore, merely stating the target customers in a business plan is not enough; the products and operations must also align with practical execution. How user admission is handled, which regions' users cannot use specific functionalities, whom Chinese promotions target, and whether the mainland team takes on responsibilities for soliciting trading users and processing orders must all align with business boundaries. If the team also plans to issue tokens independently or convert the equity of domestic assets into tokens for offshore issuance, it involves separate regulatory requirements.

Returning to the initial question, what business does Solana wish to pursue in Shanghai?

In my view, it hopes that Chinese developers and entrepreneurial teams build more products on its network and then bring these products to the global market. For a public chain, the ability to continuously attract teams to develop and retain users is essential for long-term competitiveness.

For Chinese entrepreneurs, there are opportunities worth participating in here. Using global tech tools to solve real customer issues, entering different markets, and incorporating various compliance requirements into products and operations is crucial. The restrictions on financial activities related to virtual currencies in China and the participation of Chinese teams in global blockchain technology innovation need to be understood as two separate issues.

I would prefer to see that after this excitement, a Chinese team leverages new connections to genuinely sell products overseas and gain paying customers continuously. For Solana and these entrepreneurs, this is the kind of business worth pursuing seriously.