Solana’s native token, SOL, has overtaken XRP to become the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market cap, now valued at approximately $34 billion. This significant increase in value marks a 700% rise since its low point at the end of last year. SOL now trails only behind Binance Coin (BNB), Tether (USDT), Ethereum (ETH), and Bitcoin (BTC) in terms of market value.
The recent performance of SOL has made it one of the top performers among the first 100 cryptocurrencies in 2023. In contrast, XRP has only gained 80% in value, showing a similar performance to Ethereum. XRP is currently facing a jury trial set for next year due to its ongoing legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Following the SEC’s withdrawal of charges against Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen in October, a trial planned for the second quarter of 2024 will determine the extent of Ripple Labs’ violation of U.S. securities laws. The possibility of a settlement in this case remains open.
Solana’s recent surge can be partially attributed to its significant crash during the FTX bankruptcy process in November 2022. The token had spent much of the 2021 bull rally ahead of XRP and just behind Tether among the top five tokens.
FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried had made substantial investments in the Solana ecosystem, including SOL. The market’s confidence in crypto assets associated with Bankman-Fried plummeted during the FTX collapse, causing Solana’s cumulative market value to drop by almost two-thirds in three days. Meanwhile, Bitcoin and Ethereum only took a 20% hit during the same period. Prior to the FTX bankruptcy, Solana was in the top 10 tokens, valued at about half of XRP. In the following months, Solana fell to the bottom of the top 20 tokens, behind Polkadot (DOT), Tron (TRX), and the memecoin Shiba Inu (SHIB).