October 14, 2025

Welcome to the Meridian Update, your daily on-chain report. The Solana Index wound up roughly flat over the last 24 hours, marking a calm 24 hours after the Friday drop and Sunday recovery. Let’s dive in.

Times Square, plastered with a DAT

We have mentioned digital asset treasuries (DATs) before. We have promised to explain what they are before. Still not today. The moment doesn’t feel right.

Anyway, a DAT covered Times Square with ads. You might guess the publicly traded company with stock ticker FORD makes well-known cars like the Ford Fusion (do they still make these?), the Ford F-150, and the Ford Escape. And you would be absolutely…wrong.*

FORD is Forward Industries, Inc. It is a DAT. It says it is the largest Solana treasury company.

You can check out the FORD investor thesis here. You could say it is a way to get exposure to SOL, the native token of Solana, off-chain instead of on-chain. Its ads are all over Times Square this week. Send us a picture if you see them.

*It’s just F.

The world’s leading derivatives marketplace does SOL options…

…and XRP too. The CME Group, which operates the famed Chicago Mercantile Exchange, announced the news yesterday.

You might wonder, do I need an on-chain way to interface with these Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated options?

“No. You do not need a digital wallet because Cryptocurrency options either cash settle in USD or settle into their respective Cryptocurrency futures, which are financially settled. Therefore, this does not involve the exchange of cryptocurrency.”

It sure seems like there has been a lot of news of late about off-chain markets and off-chain investors opening ways to invest in, or speculate on, on-chain assets. Something to keep an eye on.

That’s a wrap

More news about ways to buy on-chain assets, or get exposure to on-chain assets, off-chain. Interesting, to say the least.

Think we missed something today? Email email@meridianupdate.com.