Solana in the USA 2026: New York Jobs, ETFs and Policy

The US has just had a noisy few weeks for crypto. A big market structure bill stalled, the midterms flipped Congress, and US Solana ETFs have had a run of outflows. If you only read the headlines, you might think it is a bad time to look for a Solana job or to back a Solana team in America.

I think the opposite is true. The teams that are hiring in the US right now are paying serious money, and they are hiring for skills that don't depend on which party wins a vote. Here is what is actually happening, and what I would do about it.

Washington: the bill stalled, the work did not

Let's get the hard news out of the way first.

The CLARITY Act, the bill meant to set out who regulates which crypto markets, passed the House in July 2025. In the Senate it hit a wall. On 15 September 2026, a procedural vote to move it forward failed 49 to 50. Then, in the 3 November midterms, Democrats won both chambers. The current text has until 3 January 2027 to pass. After that it has to start again in a new Congress, with new committee chairs.

That sounds grim, but look closer. Paradigm's Justin Slaughter said on a livestream that Democrats who follow crypto closely concede "80% of CLARITY's fine". What they want to change is ethics rules, consumer protection, DeFi rules and how much sits with the SEC versus the CFTC. So the likely outcome is a rewrite, not a ban.

Meanwhile the regulators keep moving. At the Solana Policy Institute summit in Washington on 14 September, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins talked up the SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, a rule meant to let crypto projects raise money in the US with clear rules. The Institute has also run Solana summits in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles this year, aimed squarely at banks, asset managers and pension funds.

My take: slower laws mean compliance, legal and policy people stay in demand for longer. If you have that background, this is your moment, not a setback.

New York: where the big pay cheques are

New York has become the US centre of gravity for Solana work, and the job ads show why.

The Solana Foundation is hiring for Wall Street

The Solana Foundation has two New York roles open on its institutional team: a Head of RWA, posted 2 October, and an Institutional Growth Marketing Lead, posted 16 September. The RWA ad says the team has grown tokenized assets on Solana from zero to about $4.5 billion, and works with names like BlackRock, JPMorgan and Fidelity.

Read that marketing ad closely. It says banks and asset managers are building on Solana, and the Foundation doesn't yet have a dedicated way to talk to them. That's a gap someone from traditional finance marketing can fill, with no Rust needed.

Core engineering at Anza and Temporal

Anza, which builds the Agave validator client, is hiring a Senior Software Engineer for block production in New York at $180,000 to $300,000 a year.

Temporal, the low-latency team behind the Nozomi transaction landing service, lists three New York roles. Its Systems Engineer job pays a base of $200,000 to $350,000 plus equity. Its Senior Product Engineer pays $200,000 to $250,000, and the ad says no crypto background is required. Temporal also says it will consider exceptional fully remote candidates in the US.

That's the pattern I keep seeing. The best-paid Solana jobs want people from high-frequency trading, networking, Linux and great frontend work. Solana knowledge is a bonus, not the entry ticket.

Browse more teams like these in Infrastructure and Real World Assets.

Miami: Superteam USA builds a home base

New York has the money. Miami is trying to build the community.

Superteam launched its US chapter in March 2026, led by Nicky Scannella, from a headquarters in Miami. Its stated goals are refreshingly concrete. In the near term, it wants to help ten teams that would never have touched Solana to integrate it properly. Longer term, it wants to help double the count of Solana companies making over $100 million a year, which it put at seven.

Its own impact report for February to May 2026 lists 30 members, 15 of them new to the ecosystem, and 22 teams on its shortlist. Member teams were introduced to MoonPay and DFlow to speed up their Solana integrations. In August it opened Resident Builder applications, with free co-working at its Miami HQ. You can apply on the Superteam USA site.

My take: if you are a founder who is new to Solana, a small, hands-on chapter like this is worth more than a big conference ticket. You get warm intros, not just business cards.

Exchanges: Backpack goes state by state

Backpack is the clearest example of a Solana-native company betting on the US the slow, proper way. In March 2026 it named Mark Wetjen, a former Acting Chairman of the CFTC, as President of Backpack US. Backpack says it holds money transmitter licences in several US states, with more applications underway, and that it is building local teams.

Wetjen also spoke at the Washington summit on Solana's institutional trading stack. For job seekers, a regulated exchange expanding licence by licence means steady demand for compliance, risk, licensing and support roles, not just engineers.

Investors: the ETF picture, honestly

US spot Solana ETFs have been live for about a year. By Farside's count, cumulative net inflows stand at about $1.43 billion. Total net assets are about $1.31 billion, as of 9 November. Bitwise's BSOL is by far the biggest, at around $873 million. Morgan Stanley now has its own Solana trust too, with the lowest fee in the group at 0.14%.

The recent trend is not pretty. CMC's data shows September was the strongest month, at about $127 million in, and October the weakest, at about $144 million out. Outflows have continued into November.

I'm not worried, and here's why. The ETF wrappers exist, the big names are in, and fees are being cut. That's the plumbing. The flows will follow the price and the macro mood, and those come and go. If you are investing, my advice is to look past the weekly flow headlines. Watch the teams with real revenue and the institutions putting real assets on chain.

What this means for you

• Engineers: If you have low-latency, Rust, Linux or HFT skills, New York teams are paying $200,000 and up. Apply even if you have never written a Solana program.
• Finance and marketing people: Institutional roles want people who speak the language of banks. Your traditional finance CV is an asset here.
• Compliance and legal: A slower law means more years of state-by-state licensing and rule-making work. That's job security.
• Founders: Look at Superteam USA's resident programme before you raise. Intros to payments and trading partners save months.
• Investors: Track revenue, licences and real-world assets on chain, not just ETF flows.

What to do next

Start by looking at who is building and hiring. Browse every team on Solana Teams, check their careers pages, and send a short, specific note about what you can do for them.

And if you run a Solana team in the US, or anywhere else, list your team on Solana Teams so job seekers and investors can find you. The rules in Washington will take a while to settle. The builders aren't waiting, and neither should you.