Solana Optimistic Network Secures $5M Investment from Jump Crypto, Amber Group to Expand AI-Powered On-Chain Trading

Solana Optimistic Network (SOON), a Layer 2 project powered by the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), has raised $5 million in strategic funding from Jump Crypto, Amber Group, and a group of notable angel investors. The capital will help the project accelerate its rollout of high-performance blockchain infrastructure and democratize access to institutional-grade trading tools for retail users.

According to a press release, the investment round included backing from zkSync’s Nana Murugesan, Kamino Finance cofounder Mark Hull, Switchboard founder Chris Hermida, and Wormhole's Tori Cohen. This new injection follows SOON’s earlier $22 million raise through an NFT sale in anticipation of its mainnet launch.

SOON aims to merge high-speed, professional trading experiences with the accessibility and transparency of decentralized platforms. With fresh support from some of the industry's most respected players, the network is doubling down on its plans to scale its copy-trading platform and expand into real-world assets (RWAs), including tokenized U.S. equities.

“This investment from Jump and Amber underscores growing institutional confidence in SOON’s vision for the ultimate on-chain trading experience,” said Joanna Zeng, CEO of SOON. “Jump is an industry leader in both traditional and digital finance. Their backing gives us the ideal foundation to push into RWAs and further innovate our trading infrastructure.”

Jump Crypto partner Saurabh Sharma added that the firm is “excited about SOON’s decoupled SVM stack and its mission to bring SVM’s superior execution to where the users are.”

One of the more forward-looking aspects of the partnership involves integrating artificial intelligence into SOON’s trading products. Amber Group, known for its AI-driven financial models, plans to embed its expertise into SOON’s copy-trading platform. The goal: to open up advanced algorithmic strategies to a wider user base.

“SOON is reshaping the on-chain trading experience in a way that resonates with the next generation of users,” said Jerry Zhou, director of asset management at Amber Group. “We’re proud to support their vision and contribute our institutional-grade infrastructure and AI models.”