Jupiter Acquires SolanaFM to Strengthen Solana’s Data and Infrastructure Capabilities

Solana’s largest decentralized trading platform, Jupiter Exchange, has acquired SolanaFM, a leading Solana blockchain explorer.

The parties described the initiative as a way to accelerate the development of their data and infrastructure capabilities to improve their functionality for the Solana community.

Optimism about the acquisition

In a post published on X on September 20, the crypto exchange, which claims a trading volume of over $300 billion, expressed its excitement about the acquisition, saying that the move would improve its data and system capabilities tenfold.

In its own acquisition announcement, the SolanaFM team said the platform will continue to operate as usual, while helping to amplify Jupiter’s potential.

The explorer was founded in 2021 by three Singapore Management University (SMU) students and has since provided deep insights into transaction history, smart contracts, and token information on the Solana blockchain.

It has also received significant backing, including $4.5 million raised in a seed funding round in 2022. SBI Group’s Digital Asset Opportunity Fund led the round, which was also participated by Zee Prime, Spartan Capital and K3 Ventures, among others.

The platform also received an undisclosed seed funding round at its inception, which included contributions from Ethereum explorer Etherscan and crypto wallet provider Coinhako.

Jupiter Announces Major Updates

Elsewhere, at Breakpoint, Solana’s annual conference, Jupiter unveiled several major updates, including the launch of Metropolis API, a platform designed to streamline development on Solana with a new token, pricing, and exchange APIs.

Other notable updates include Jupiter RFQ (Request for Quote), which should improve liquidity by allowing market makers to provide prices directly to the routing engine.

The exchange also unveiled its next-generation perpetual trading platform, offering expected features such as limit orders, gasless trading and an advanced Dove oracle system.

Alongside these developments, Jupiter also plans to launch Jupiter Mobile, an app designed to onboard new people to Solana. It will allow users to trade tokens using Apple Pay, Google Pay, or credit cards without any platform fees.

This good news comes on the heels of Jupiter’s recent warning to Solana users about a malicious Chrome extension that is emptying their wallets.

Dubbed “Bull Checker,” the offending extension reportedly targeted Reddit users, particularly those who were members of the various Solana-themed subreddits on the social platform. In its alert, Jupiter claimed that Bull Checker had the ability to add instructions to a regular crypto transaction that allowed it to send funds to another wallet.