SOL Holders are smiling at the bank as the token is trading over the $200 mark, with a market capitalization of $61.6 billion. Its current market capitalization puts the token more valuable than Ripple’s XRP, which has a market capitalization of $52.7 billion
SOL is now the 6th most valuable cryptocurrency as the coin surges to new all-time highs (ATH’s) despite the market decline that was experienced on Tuesday that saw Bitcoin lose over $9,000 in price from over $52,000 to as low as $43,500.
SOL has gained over 80% in the last 7 days, which many experts believe the token is in price discovery. The bulls have largely ignored its overvaluation risks as investors continue to treat Solana as a long-term competitor to Ethereum, the world’s leading smart contracts platform. SOL is up over 11,350% Year-to-Date.
Solana has made a lot of announcements in the last 2 months that has brought about traction and interest from both retail and institutional investors. On Monday, Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of crypto derivatives platform FTX, announced Solana’s integration into FTX’s upcoming nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace.
This and other news which includes the U.S. securities regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), registering a Solana-centric fund for institutional investors, cryptocurrency market data network company, Pyth, going live on the Solana blockchain and Solana’s successful venture into non-fungible token’s (NFT’s) this month, with the launch of Degenerate Apes, have all pushed the price of SOL bullish especially in the last 6 weeks.
The Solana blockchain has been attracting a wide range of projects to build on its blockchain. As of today, there are over 400 projects built on Solana’s network, including various decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. FTX and Alameda Research built their decentralized cryptocurrency exchange called Serum on the network, which also hosts the increasingly popular USDC stablecoin. Another crypto, Audius (AUDIO), uses the platform too, which may also be a factor behind Solana’s price rise because TikTok chose Audius as its streaming partner earlier this month.
A unique feature of the Solana blockchain that has many people excited is the launch of its wormhole project. This allows investors to easily bridge between different blockchain networks. This is a huge milestone because blockchains are not very good at working with one another, and that’s been another stumbling block in terms of growth. Projects can now use the wormhole feature to move assets between Ethereum and Solana quickly and cheaply. Solana says the next step will be to connect Terra (LUNA) and the Binance Smart Chain.
SOL is trading $210, up 33% for the day.