Drift Reimagines DeFi on Solana with Institutional Focus and New Market Offerings

As decentralized finance (DeFi) evolves, the competition to deliver capital-efficient, real-time trading experiences is heating up. One Solana-based protocol—Drift—is emerging as a front-runner by redefining the boundaries of what DeFi can be.

In an interview on TheStreet Roundtable, Malak Albaw spoke with Drift co-founder and CEO Cindy Leow about the platform’s transformation from a perpetuals exchange into a full-stack DeFi ecosystem catering to institutions, prediction markets, and advanced traders.

“We’re not just building a place to trade perps,” said Leow. “We’re building a platform where crypto-native and real-world assets converge—with performance, UX, and capital efficiency at the core.”
Expanding Beyond Perpetuals

Built on Solana’s fast and low-cost blockchain, Drift delivers a trading experience on par with centralized exchanges. It combines a virtual AMM and order book system to offer capital efficiency and tight spreads. Responding to increasing demand from professional traders, the team launched Drift Institutional, offering deep liquidity, advanced APIs, and tailored onboarding solutions for asset managers and trading firms.

This push into institutional services is backed by a recent $25 million Series B funding round, supporting Drift’s growth across multiple DeFi verticals—including derivatives, prediction markets, and yield strategies.

Future Outlook

As the DeFi landscape matures, Drift is distinguishing itself through a multi-vertical strategy and infrastructure optimized for scalability and performance. Its evolution reflects Solana’s growing status as a foundation for next-generation decentralized applications.