Keynote: Temporal

Solana is now quoting tighter spreads than Binance for retail traders. That's not a future promise—it's happening today, powered by a new class of infrastructure that's transforming how blocks are built on the network. At Breakpoint 2025, Temporal CEO Ben Coverston revealed how his team is replacing monopolistic block building with an open marketplace called Harmonic, capable of processing over 1 million transactions per second.

Summary

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Ben Coverston took the stage at Breakpoint 2025 with a provocative observation: centralized markets don't fail with dramatic crashes—they fail quietly through invisible advantages and opaque decision-making. This same problem, he argued, has crept into Solana's block building infrastructure, where reduced competition erodes trust and efficiency.

Rather than building a better monopoly, Temporal has created Harmonic—a marketplace that aggregates blocks from multiple builders in real-time, allowing validators to select the best block according to their preferences. This shift from single-builder dominance to open competition mirrors the evolution of traditional financial markets, but with the transparency and accessibility that only blockchain can provide.

The presentation also highlighted Humidify, a decentralized exchange co-founded by Coverston that represents the practical application of this infrastructure vision. Humidify is currently handling 60% of all spot volume on Solana and offering retail traders better prices than they would get on centralized exchanges like Binance. This isn't theoretical—it's live, working infrastructure processing real money at institutional scale.

Coverston emphasized that Solana's strength comes from competition at every layer of the stack: borrow/lend protocols compete, routers compete, clients compete, and now with Harmonic, the infrastructure layer competes too. This open market approach positions Solana to host Wall Street-scale markets on-chain while maintaining the transparency and fairness that centralized alternatives cannot match.

Key Points

The Problem with Block Building Monopolies

Coverston opened with a stark warning about how centralized markets fail—not through obvious crashes, but through subtle manipulation. Small skews, invisible advantages, and decisions made behind closed doors erode trust without anyone noticing. He identified this exact problem in Solana's current block building infrastructure, where a small set of players can dominate block construction through quiet off-chain deals.

When competition decreases in block building, the consequences cascade throughout the network. Validators risk becoming "dumb pipes" with no real control over block contents. Stakers receive diminishing returns—what Coverston dismissively called "table scraps." Applications suffer from unpredictable inclusion times and latency, making it impossible to build reliable financial products. The solution, Temporal argues, isn't to build a better monopoly but to create a genuine marketplace where competition drives efficiency and fairness.

Harmonic: A Block Building Marketplace

Harmonic represents a fundamental architectural shift in how Solana blocks are constructed. Instead of locking validators into a single block builder, the system aggregates blocks from multiple builders simultaneously and in real-time. Validators can then select the best block according to their specific preferences—whether that's maximizing revenue, prioritizing certain applications, or ensuring fair transaction ordering.

The technical capabilities are impressive. Harmonic can make sequencing decisions at over 1 million transactions per second, with an upcoming transport layer update that will extend this throughput across the entire system. Coverston demonstrated this on mainnet, pointing to specific blocks containing 10,000 Humidify Oracle updates—25 times more transactions than average Solana blocks today. This isn't a testnet demo; it's production infrastructure proving its capabilities with real blocks on the main network.

Humidify: Proof of Concept in Production

Humidify serves as the showcase application for what this new infrastructure enables. It's a decentralized exchange built on "probably market maker" (AMM) technology—smart contracts with actively managed liquidity rather than passive formulas like traditional AMMs. Sophisticated traders manage liquidity in real-time, delivering institutional-grade pricing to retail users.

The results speak for themselves: Humidify is quoting tighter spreads than Binance for retail traders, with average fills on the order of just a few basis points. The protocol currently processes 60% of all spot volume on Solana. This demonstrates that on-chain markets can not only match centralized exchange efficiency but potentially surpass it while maintaining full transparency and permissionless access.

Institutional Adoption of Solana

Coverston painted a picture of Solana's transformation from a chain associated with speculation to genuine institutional infrastructure. He cited the Bitwise Solana spot ETF, which has attracted over $600 million in inflows within months of launch. Forward Industries raised $1.65 billion in debt—one of several major institutional deployments. Additional products like SolMate in the UAE demonstrate global institutional interest.

This institutional influx isn't just about capital—it demands infrastructure that can match Wall Street performance standards. Solana can already clear tens of thousands of trades per second at near-zero cost. Unlike traditional markets with seat licenses and membership tiers, anyone in the world can access this infrastructure. Harmonic and Humidify represent the next evolution: bringing Wall Street-grade performance while maintaining crypto's unique advantages of openness and transparency.

MEV Transparency and Control

A crucial aspect of Harmonic's design is bringing MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) into the open. Currently, MEV extraction often happens through opaque processes that benefit a small number of sophisticated actors. Harmonic makes this transparent and controllable, with extensive tooling to help users understand exactly how blocks are being constructed.

Applications gain the ability to specify their inclusion requirements—fast execution, predictable ordering, and fair access without arbitrary rate limits. Validators maintain control over their block preferences while benefiting from increased revenue through competition. The system aligns incentives between all participants rather than allowing one group to extract value at others' expense.

Facts + Figures

• Harmonic can process sequencing decisions at over 1 million transactions per second
• Humidify currently handles 60% of all spot volume on Solana
• Humidify offers retail traders tighter spreads than Binance
• Average fills on Humidify are measured in just a few basis points
• Bitwise Solana spot ETF has attracted over $600 million in inflows in recent months
• Forward Industries raised $1.65 billion in debt for Solana-related activities
• Demonstrated mainnet block 385,921,704 contained 10,000 Humidify Oracle updates
• This represents 25x more transactions than the average Solana mainnet block
• Harmonic Transport Layer 2.0 will extend million-TPS throughput across the entire system
• The marketplace aggregates blocks from up to N builders in real-time

Top Quotes

• "Centralized markets don't fail loudly. They fail quietly. With small skews, invisible advantages, and decisions no one can see."

• "Crypto was supposed to escape Wall Street. Instead, we've kind of started to rebuild it."

• "Solana is no longer a chain labeled for degen and meme coins. Solana is a chain for institutions."

• "Wall Street grade markets, programmable, global and open."

• "Retail can go on Solana and get tighter spreads than they would get on Binance."

• "We're bringing a new kind of capacity to this network, and it's going to enable new market structures and tighter spreads like we've never seen before."

• "Validators risk becoming dumb pipes, stakers get table scraps, applications get unpredictable inclusion and latency."

• "Block building kind of resembles high frequency market routing. NASDAQ, NYSE, these guys are fast... Solana needs the same."

• "Solana is where it is today because its apps compete. Its borrow/lends compete, its routers compete, its clients compete, and now its infrastructure competes."

• "We're building competition rather than capture as the default of the base layer."

Questions Answered

What is Harmonic and why does Solana need it?

Harmonic is a marketplace for block building that aggregates proposals from multiple block builders and lets validators choose the best one according to their preferences. Solana needs this because the current system allows a small number of players to dominate block construction through off-chain deals, which reduces competition and erodes trust. When one builder controls block construction, they can quietly advantage certain transactions over others, leading to unfair outcomes for users and applications. Harmonic introduces genuine competition that drives better performance, fairer outcomes, and higher revenue for validators.

How fast can Harmonic actually process transactions?

Harmonic can make sequencing decisions at over 1 million transactions per second, with upcoming improvements to the transport layer that will extend this throughput across the entire system. This speed is essential for applications like Humidify that need to update prices rapidly to offer competitive spreads. Temporal demonstrated this capability live on mainnet by producing blocks containing 10,000 Oracle updates—25 times more transactions than typical Solana blocks handle today.

What is Humidify and how is it different from other DEXs?

Humidify is a decentralized exchange built on "probably market maker" technology, which differs from traditional AMMs by using actively managed rather than passive liquidity. Instead of relying on mathematical formulas to set prices, sophisticated traders actively manage the liquidity pools to provide institutional-grade pricing. The result is that retail traders can access spreads tighter than what they would get on Binance, with Humidify currently processing 60% of all spot volume on Solana.

Why should validators care about Harmonic?

Validators benefit from Harmonic in multiple ways. First, competition between block builders drives up the revenue validators can earn from block production. Second, validators gain control over their preferences—they can specify how they want blocks constructed rather than simply accepting whatever a monopolistic builder provides. Third, the system makes MEV transparent and controllable, allowing validators to understand exactly where their revenue comes from rather than receiving opaque payments through backroom deals.

How is Solana attracting institutional investors?

Solana has seen significant institutional adoption through products like the Bitwise spot ETF, which has attracted over $600 million in inflows in just months. Forward Industries raised $1.65 billion in debt for Solana-related activities, and additional products like SolMate are launching in markets like the UAE. This institutional interest stems from Solana's ability to process tens of thousands of trades per second at near-zero cost while maintaining permissionless access—combining Wall Street performance with crypto's accessibility.

What problems does the current block building system create?

The current system creates several issues: validators risk becoming passive infrastructure with no real control over blocks, stakers receive diminishing returns as value concentrates among a small group of builders, and applications suffer from unpredictable inclusion times and latency. Off-chain deals between builders and large traders can create invisible advantages that erode trust in the system. The lack of transparency makes it impossible to know if you're getting fair execution.

Can decentralized exchanges really compete with centralized exchanges like Binance?

Yes—Humidify has already proven this. Retail traders on Solana can now access tighter spreads than Binance offers, with average fills measuring just a few basis points. The key enabler is infrastructure like Harmonic that provides the speed and reliability that institutional market makers require. When sophisticated liquidity providers can operate efficiently on-chain, they can deliver the same or better pricing as centralized venues while maintaining full transparency and permissionless access.