The Solana Foundation this week unveiled Kora, a fee relayer and signing infrastructure designed to eliminate transaction cost barriers for users. The system lets applications sponsor transaction fees entirely, meaning users no longer need to hold SOL to interact with Solana-based products. Solana’s native token is trading around $124, down about 58% from its January 2025 peak of $293.
Kora functions as both a fee relayer and a signing node, enabling applications to cover costs with alternative tokens, including USDC and other stablecoins. This capability removes onboarding friction for cryptocurrency applications, while Runtime Verification audited the infrastructure to bolster security with institutional-grade assurances. The foundation noted there was no standardized solution for fee sponsorship and remote signing prior to Kora.
Gaming platforms are cited as a clear use case, with developers able to charge fees using in-game assets instead of requiring players to acquire and hold SOL tokens. Kora supports multiple remote signers, including AWS KMS and Turnkey, allowing teams to manage transaction signing in secure external environments rather than storing private keys locally. The system also includes balance monitoring tools to prevent failed transactions from depleting funds.
Solana Foundation’s Kora introduces a scalable fee sponsorship model that enables apps to cover user transaction costs in USDC and other tokens, removing the need for SOL on-ramp purchases. By auditing the infrastructure with Runtime Verification, Kora aims to deliver institutional-grade security as developers rely on remote signers like AWS KMS and Turnkey to sign transactions outside local key storage. The move targets onboarding friction, with gaming platforms identified as a primary use case where in-game assets can cover transaction costs. The approach also includes balance monitoring to prevent fund depletion and ensures reliable operation even as sponsorship dynamics evolve.
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