Key Takeaways: Unpacking the Autonomous Finance Layer on Solana with Squads

On February 26, 2026, SOL Strategies CTO Max Kaplan hosted Garrett Harper, Head of BD at Squads, for a conversation on how products like Fuse and Altitude are reshaping finance on Solana, giving businesses access to next-generation financial products.

At the heart of the conversation was a clear insight: while stablecoins enable faster movement of capital, they can introduce workflow challenges without robust supporting infrastructure. Squads is working to eliminate that friction by building systems that make stablecoin driven finance seamless and efficient.

Date: February 26, 2026

Format: X Spaces Conversation Recap

Participants: Max Kaplan, CTO, SOL Strategies Inc. (CSE: HODL, NASDAQ: STKE) | Garrett Harper, Head of BD, Squads

From Multisig Infrastructure to On-Chain Finance

Squads began in 2021 as on-chain multisig infrastructure, securing DAO and startup treasuries across Solana. Today, more than 500 businesses use Squads to manage billions in assets.

As stablecoin balances grew across the ecosystem, so did demand for more functionality: bill pay, treasury yield, corporate cards, accounting exports and global payment rails.

From that foundation came two additional products:

• Fuse – a consumer focused crypto banking experience
• Altitude – a business treasury and payments platform built around stablecoins

The Yield “Game Changing” Moment

One of the most powerful unlocks, according to Max, is yield.

“The biggest differentiator of Fuse is really the yields. So many people in America have gotten used to not getting any interest in their checking or savings. The minute a user can see that they can earn yield on the money that’s in their ‘bank account,’ that’s a game changing moment.”

For many users, traditional accounts offer negligible returns. When stablecoin balances begin earning meaningful yield inside an intuitive interface, expectations shift quickly.

Yield becomes embedded in everyday finance rather than a separate DeFi strategy.

Stablecoins: Fast Payments, Complex Operations

Garrett pointed out that while stablecoins dramatically improve settlement speed and reduce fees, they often introduce operational headaches for finance teams:

“Stablecoins speed up payments but they slow down everything else. It makes the CFO’s (Chief Financial Officers) life a complete headache because it’s unclear how to do accounting or reporting.”

Faster rails alone are not enough. CFOs require:

• Clean reporting
• Accounting exports
• Role-based permissions
• Policy controls
• Clear audit trails

Without those elements, stablecoin usage creates fragmentation rather than efficiency.

“At the end of the day, we’re trying to provide real value to the CFO with Altitude – faster payments, lower fees, less time and higher yield.”

The focus is not just payments, but full treasury functionality.

Building a True Stablecoin Operating Account

Garrett emphasized that receiving stablecoins is only the first step.

“Receiving stables can sound simple, but once you start trying to create an operating account around stablecoins, it’s pretty complex.”

Many fintechs bolt stablecoins onto legacy systems. Squads took the opposite approach: build natively on-chain first, then integrate traditional rails.

“There’s a structural benefit to Squads, because we’re experts on this new technology and we’re plugging into providers that are on legacy systems.”

That architectural decision affects everything – fees, reliability, performance and product flexibility. Instead of layering stablecoins onto bank infrastructure, Altitude connects ACH, SEPA, Wire and soon SWIFT to a stablecoin native treasury stack.

Finance as an Efficiency Lever

A recurring theme in the conversation was operational efficiency.

Garrett framed it clearly:

“Tools like Altitude are part of this larger push toward efficiency. You don’t only want your product team and business to be efficient, but you want your finances to be too.”

Stablecoins create faster global payment rails. But true efficiency comes from combining those rails with reporting clarity, permissioning and yield optimization.

“The most efficient way to have global finance right now is with stablecoins.”

The discussion underscored a broader shift: stablecoins are no longer just a crypto-native tool. With the right infrastructure, they become a practical foundation for modern treasury management.

Squads is focused on making that foundation usable for both individuals and finance teams, without adding complexity where it matters most.

Disclaimer

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