Two things changed for ORCA in early October 2026. On 7 October the Orca protocol announced a merger with Loopscale, a fixed-rate lending protocol on Solana. Holders were also asked to vote on a proposal that would cut xORCA stakers' share of protocol fees from 40% to 10%, move about 14.2 million ORCA and about 70,000 SOL from community treasuries to accounts the team controls, and dissolve the Governance Council. The re-run vote was set to close on 18 October 2026, followed by a cool-down that ended on 20 October. At 10:16 UTC on 25 October 2026, ORCA traded at $1.74 (CoinGecko).
The newest development: Orca and Loopscale become Formation
- When: The Block reported the deal at 6:01 pm ET on 7 October 2026. About an hour later Orca confirmed on X that it "is merging with @Loopscale to bring Solana's deepest liquidity and fixed-rate credit into one full-stack DeFi platform" (as reported by Solana Compass, 8 October 2026).
- Who runs it: The combined company is called Formation and is based in New York City. Luke Truitt, a Loopscale co-founder, is CEO. Mary Gooneratne, the other Loopscale co-founder, is COO. Christopher Montagano, who joined Orca in 2022, is chief strategy and legal officer (Solana Compass). In a governance forum post on 13 October 2026, the Council Secretary said the CEO reports to a three-person board: two Orca appointees and one Loopscale appointee.
- Stated focus: The Block described the merger as a push into financing AI, robotics and defense. Formation plans a tokenized securities venue under the SEC's Innovation Exemption. No launch date has been given.
- Terms: Price, ownership split and closing status have not been disclosed. A Council member wrote on 8 October that "specific deal terms remain confidential under the definitive agreement."
- What Loopscale is: A Solana lending protocol that matches lenders and borrowers at fixed rates through an order book. In June 2026 it added curated vaults that manage lending strategies for depositors.
The governance proposal: "Resourcing Orca for Its Next Phase"
The Council endorsed the proposal unanimously on 24 September 2026. Council member Cortina posted it on Orca's governance forum on 29 September 2026. The proposal itself describes acquiring an unnamed "leading Solana DeFi protocol". The Loopscale merger, announced on 7 October, followed it.
Protocol fee split
| Recipient | Current | Proposed |
|---|---|---|
| xORCA stakers | 40% | 10% (programmatic buybacks into the xORCA pool) |
| Fee Treasury | 10% | 0% |
| Buyback Account (new) | none | 10% (open-market ORCA buybacks, capped daily at 2% of 30-day average volume) |
| Team | 50% | 80% (development, operations, growth) |
Treasuries and governance
- ORCA Treasury: about 14.2 million ORCA would move to a team-controlled Strategic Account, to be used for acquiring teams, products or protocols. That is roughly a fifth of the 75.0 million ORCA total supply (CoinGecko). The team would have to post a written summary of each deployment on the forum within 14 days.
- Fee Treasury: the proposal puts it at about 70,000 SOL, mostly staked to the Orca validator. It would move to team control for staking, liquidity and yield strategies.
- Council: The Council would be dissolved. Tokenholder governance would then be limited mainly to proposing and approving new ORCA minting. According to Cortina, no new ORCA would be minted under this proposal.
Vote timeline
- 5–6 October 2026: The first on-chain vote opened on Realms, set to close on 10 October at 19:42 UTC. To pass, it needed 3,000,000 Yes votes, and four Council votes could veto it during a two-day cool-down. At about 08:30 UTC on 7 October it had roughly 1.12 million Yes votes and one No vote (Solana Compass).
- 8 October 2026: The vote was cancelled. xORCA holders could not vote without unstaking, which takes seven days, and the live vote could not be extended.
- 13 October 2026: The Council Secretary announced a new vote ending on 18 October 2026 at 18:38 UTC, with the cool-down ending on 20 October at 18:38 UTC. Votes from the cancelled round did not carry over. An earlier update had pencilled in 11–16 October.
The objections
Holders raised these points on the forum between 30 September and 8 October:
- Staking rewards would fall roughly fourfold.
- Treasury assets would move to the team at the same time as the Council that oversees them is removed.
- Tokens issued for acquisitions could create selling pressure.
- xORCA holders could not vote in the first round.
Cortina replied on 3 October that about 70% of the funds allocated to earlier buybacks had been spent, with roughly 3 million USDC left.
How the ORCA vote unfolded
Step through the dates from the proposal's endorsement to the end of the re-run vote's cool-down.
- 24 September 2026Council endorses the proposalconfirmed
The Council endorsed "Resourcing Orca for Its Next Phase" unanimously.
- 29 September 2026Proposal posted on the forumconfirmed
Council member Cortina posted it on Orca's governance forum. It would cut xORCA stakers' fee share from 40% to 10%, move about 14.2 million ORCA and about 70,000 SOL to team control, and dissolve the Council.
- 5–6 October 2026First on-chain vote opensconfirmed
The vote opened on Realms, set to close on 10 October at 19:42 UTC. To pass, it needed 3,000,000 Yes votes, and four Council votes could veto it during a two-day cool-down. At about 08:30 UTC on 7 October it had roughly 1.12 million Yes votes.
- 7 October 2026Loopscale merger announcedconfirmed
The Block reported the deal at 6:01 pm ET, and Orca confirmed it on X about an hour later. The combined company is called Formation. Deal terms have not been disclosed.
- 8 October 2026First vote cancelledconfirmed
xORCA holders could not vote without unstaking, which takes seven days, and the live vote could not be extended.
- 13 October 2026Re-run vote announcedannounced
The Council Secretary announced a new vote. Votes from the cancelled round did not carry over.
- 18 October 2026, 18:38 UTCRe-run vote closesexpected
The scheduled end of the new vote. An earlier update had pencilled in 11–16 October, so the dates in the two posts conflict.
- 20 October 2026, 18:38 UTCCool-down endsuncertain
The Council's veto window was due to close at this time. The final tally, and whether the veto was used, had not been reported.
This shows only the dates reported for the proposal and the merger. It does not give the final vote result or the Formation deal terms, and it cannot say whether the fee split has changed on-chain.
Where ORCA stands now (25 October 2026, 10:16 UTC)
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Price | $1.74 |
| 24 hours | +3.34% |
| 7 days | −2.03% |
| 30 days | +7.30% |
| Market cap | $106.1M |
| 24h volume | $12.0M |
| Circulating / total / max supply | 60.8M / 75.0M / 100M ORCA |
| All-time high | $20.33 (2 October 2021) |
| All-time low | $0.351 (19 June 2022) |
| Protocol TVL on Solana | about $300.2M (DefiLlama) |
Source: CoinGecko for the market data, DefiLlama for TVL.
Crypto Briefing reported on 7 October that ORCA rose about 84% as the proposal circulated, with a recent range of about $2.90 to $3.15. Measured against that range, today's $1.74 means most of that rally has reversed. The +7.30% 30-day change shows the token is now only slightly above where it was in late September.
What to watch
- The final Realms tally and whether the Council used its veto before 20 October.
- Whether the fee split changes on-chain, which would show up in xORCA reward rates.
- Disclosure of the Formation deal terms and any use of the Strategic Account, which the proposal says must be reported within 14 days.
Merger details come mainly from The Block and Solana Compass, while the fee split and treasury terms are Orca's own proposal figures.
Crypto assets are volatile and you can lose your capital. Nothing here is investment advice.
