After Istanbul’s Solana Crossroads 2025 - actually, one of the most revealing blockchain gatherings in recent memory - it’s clear the industry isn’t just evolving. It’s bracing for turbulence. And Solana? Still flying high, but with new headwinds.
Istanbul: Diverse, vibrant, shaking
Istanbul has always been a city of extremes: vast, diverse, never quite asleep. Its skyline spills across continents; its history oozes from every stone. In 2025, that tension is sharper than ever - filthy wealth brushing shoulders with poverty, progress shadowed by instability.
We arrived just after the earthquakes. The irony wasn’t lost on us as we came to shake things up, but it was Istanbul (and the momentum of the Solana community!) that shook us. Sic res est.
Image by GetBlock // GetBlock CEO Vasily Rudomanov and Content Lead Vlad Sopov at Solana Crossroads 2025
In 2025, few ecosystems can orchestrate events of this scale and substance. Perhaps only Ethereum rivals Solana in both reach and resonance. Solana Breakpoint and Solana Crossroads are already large and only getting bigger and bigger every year.
This edition of Solana Crossroads was a perfect cocktail of developers, hackers, builders - and traders, memecoiners, MEV hunters, and so on. It’s like Dubai’s luxury-laden summits blending into the underground grit of DevConnect hacking marathons and DevCon’s coding dungeons.
That tension between the glitzy and the gritty is literally where the most important innovation is happening. And where GetBlock is placing its bets.
From MEV mayhem to AI agents and consumer apps
Among the breakout themes at Solana Crossroads 2025, one towered above the rest: MEV (Maximal Extractable Value). It dominated conversations, panels, and after-hours debates alike.
Good MEV, bad MEV, MEV trades, MEV wars, MEV fees (exorbitant!), how do we handle it, how can we protect ourselves from it, how do we benefit from it. The discourse now spans ethics, economics, and infrastructure. That alone is a sign of how far DeFi has matured.
Restaking is no longer just an Ethereum game. Solana’s entry into the LSTFi/LRTFi space is paving the path for capital efficiency at scale. Once SOL is staked in one protocol, it can be recursively deployed across layers of DeFi applications creating pretty spicy yield designs.
And yes, you’re right - AI. If there was a second buzzword echoing through the halls, it was that. First, for devs: Copilot-style toolsets are now helping engineers prototype functional DeFi apps with minimal experience. “Vibe coding” they name it - once a meme, is fast becoming a standard.
Meanwhile, autonomous AI agents are beginning to automate core crypto operations - from arbitrage to governance, stablecoin mints, and, yet again, staking/restaking. MCPs are actively experimenting with ways to embed blockchain data into existing mainstream LLMs, turning once-hyped “synergies” into practical, verticalized tools.
Even with all the technical excitement, Solana hasn’t lost sight of the bigger mission: onboarding the next cohorts of users. Solana Mobile phone, “Solana’s App Store” Seeker, Solana cards by Solflare, KAST, you name it. TradFi watches closer and this sphere is yet to be explored.
Wrapping up: Solana outgrows the sandbox
Solana also knows how to not take itself too seriously, and that’s a strength, to be frank. The Solana Roast event delivered sharp humor and acerbic self-aware critique, both of which are sorely needed in our insane segment that too often confuses jargon for substance.
Solana has clearly outgrown its early childhood illnesses. The app ecosystem is diversifying, the community remains relentlessly active, and technical innovation continues at pace.
At GetBlock, we’re proud to help power this next chapter offering builders the infrastructure they need, from MEV-resilient nodes (NEW!) to a robust Solana Pro toolkit - make your hands dirty today: https://getblock.io/contact/ .
Teşekkürler, Solana Crossroads 2025!
Saygılarımla,
GetBlock CEO
Vasily
