In this episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn Melinek speaks with Marco Santori, CEO of Solmate, about the company’s shift from a pure digital asset treasury model into an infrastructure business. Marco explains why Solmate decided to build bare metal validators in the UAE, how geography affects production, and why the region is becoming strategically important for Solana’s global footprint.

They also discuss Solmate’s planned acquisition of RockawayX, how it intends to integrate the firm’s liquidity, asset management and infrastructure, and why tokenization represents the biggest near term opportunity on Solana. Marco shares insights from his career across law, Kraken and venture, and explains why the long term vision is to turn Solmate into an operating business driven by revenues and not market cycles.

Timestamps(00:00) – Intro

(01:16) – Abu Dhabi Finance Week vs Breakpoint and Solmate’s strategic presence in the region

(02:21) – How institutional investors think about high frequency trading and blockchain mechanics

(04:13) – Marco’s background across law, exchanges and venture — and how he navigated the industry

(06:37) – Why Solmate merged its DAT with infrastructure after investor feedback

(08:30) – RockawayX acquisition and integrating infrastructure with liquidity services

(11:02) – What real infrastructure means: UAE’s first bare metal validator

(14:03) – Why UAE’s geography is critical for latency, block production, and global connectivity

(19:16) – Expansion plans, regional market differences, and focus on UAE

(20:00) – Messaging to institutional allocators and pitching Solana as onchain finance exposure

(24:35) – Moving beyond DATs: Solmate’s shift toward an earnings-driven business

(29:08) – Tokenization as the next era of commerce and everyday HFT-style transactions

(33:31) – Solmate’s long-term vision and Marco’s final advice for navigating crypto cycles

Essentials

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