Solana (SOL) has experienced a significant price rally, nearing the $100 mark after previously dipping to $8 earlier in the year. At the time of writing, SOL’s price is trading around $99, with a market capitalization of $42.2 billion, marking a 17.15% increase. This rally has propelled SOL past Binance Coin (BNB), which has a market valuation of $41.1 billion, making SOL the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
The strong performance of SOL is not limited to its market value; the transaction volume tied to contracts on the Solana network has also seen a notable increase of 32%, surpassing $10 billion. Additionally, the open interest in SOL-related contracts reached $1.34 billion within the same time frame, positioning Solana as the third-highest in open interest behind Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
This growth highlights SOL’s increasing prominence in the cryptocurrency market and reflects the rising investor interest in the Solana blockchain. The Total Value Locked (TVL) on the Solana blockchain has also exceeded $1.3 billion, with more than $1 billion added to its TVL in just the last two months, largely due to the surge in DeFi activities.
Despite the impressive year-to-date surge of over 700% and a five-fold increase in price in the last two months, with most gains occurring since mid-October, some prominent figures in the market are selling their SOL holdings. Arthur Hayes, co-founder of the crypto exchange BitMEX, has disclosed selling his SOL supply and instead purchasing Ethereum (ETH).
Hayes humorously commented that he received a “divine message” to abandon SOL, leading him to sell his holdings and buy more of the popular cryptocurrency Ethereum. He also made a price prediction for ETH, pointing to a target of $5,000. While his statement may have been in jest, it underscores the attention that price movements in the crypto community are attracting.
The narrative around Solana’s performance and Hayes’ market moves serves as a testament to the dynamic and ever-evolving landscape of cryptocurrency investments, where market sentiment and investor actions can have significant impacts on the valuations and rankings of digital assets.