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The hype in crypto investments has quietly died down since the surge at the start of the year following the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January. Despite the market downturn, several blockchains have exceeded expectations, particularly the Solana blockchain.
The blockchain has stood out amongst a crowded crypto market in the past year due to the platform’s architecture and rapid innovations that make it an ideal blockchain to support the widespread adoption of Web 3 technologies. At the start of July 2023, Solana’s native token $SOL traded at a measly market price of $18 and has since experienced a snowball effect – recording a 638% growth rate in the past year to trade at $153, as of writing. The token hit a yearly high of $202 on April 1, 2024.
Solana has recovered from the fallout of the FTX bankruptcy in 2021 to become one of the best-performing blockchains in 2024. The blockchain is home to thousands of projects with over $5.4 billion in total value of assets locked on the platform. Notwithstanding, the blockchain has also witnessed an upswing in volumes traded, constantly reaching the $500 million mark across 2024.
The massive growth has largely been caused by the mini memecoin boom on Solana earlier in the year. Nevertheless, the scalability, speed, and efficiency of the blockchain have made Solana a breeding ground for decentralized applications (dApps) from different areas, including consumer-based products, infrastructure services, decentralized finance, payments, NFTs, derivatives trading, etc.
This piece highlights the most promising investment products for seasoned and new crypto investors in the second half of the year.
Technology and innovation: This focuses on the unique features, use cases, technological advancements and ease of use of the project.
Development and developers: This criteria aims to check the rate of development and developers on GitHub and other development statistics.
Whitepaper: It serves as a source of information for potential investors, developers, and the community, helping them understand the project's technology and goals.
Market performance: This criterion focuses on the historical data, market cap, trading volume, and price stability of the project’s token.
Team: One of the most important components of a project is the team leading it. We feature projects with an experienced team with a strong track record.
Community and adoption: Focuses on the size and engagement of the community, partnerships, and real-world use cases.
Social media presence: Projects are increasingly being gauged by their socials and how they engage their communities.
Roadmap: The roadmap shows the future developments planned for the project, its upcoming features and the direction it is taking.
Potential: While subjective, the overall potential of a project may be a crucial criterion in selecting a platform for long-term growth.
Marinade Finance is an automated liquid staking platform that monitors all Solana validators and delegates in a single platform. Users can stake several Solana-based tokens, including $SOL, Everstake, and its native $MNDE token. Once staked, users receive a liquid staking token that unlocks the staked value to be used in other platforms while still offering staking rewards.
Currently, the platform offers an annualized yield of 7.75%, making it one of the most profitable liquid staking platforms on Solana. Notwithstanding, Marinade Finance users can exit their staked positions at any time at the best price. Finally, the platform minimizes smart contract risk, allowing users to keep full custody of their assets. The platform boasts $1.1 billion (or 8,196,985 staked SOL) in staked assets, with over 150,000 unique wallets connected on the platform.
Despite the downturn in the crypto market, the $MNDE token has offered impressive returns over the past year, growing over 50% since July last year to trade at $0.12, as of writing.
Social Media & Community: The platform has over 60,000 followers on X and 8,300 members on its Discord channel. Marinade Finance also launched a discussion forum to allow users to interact and share ideas on the governance of the platform as well as talk on long-term decisions that will shape the future of Marinade protocol.
Background & Team: The platform was launched in 2021 by two crypto enthusiasts, Marco Broeken and Lucio Tato. However, the founders stepped back from the project once launched, giving full control to the Marinade Finance DAO.
Roadmap & Potential: The biggest step for Marinade Finance this year is the launch of protected staking rewards. Additionally, in June, the platform announced the launch of its Season 3 earnings program that aims to distribute up to 25 million $MNDE tokens to users who participate in deepening total mSOL (the liquid staked token) liquidity, fortifying its dominant position in the Solana LST market.
One of the most important aspects for investors in the wider crypto ecosystem is data. Orbitt offers a Solana network hub for crypto projects. The platform is designed to help investors navigate the complexities of the Solana blockchain, offering tools that empower traders and developers. The platform seeks to simplify the crypto trading and development process, making it more accessible and profitable for Solana users.
Orbitt includes two utilities: Orbitt PRO and Orbitt MM, each offering unique capabilities and solutions to the specific needs of the users.
Orbitt PRO, made for crypto traders, is a Chrome Extension that leverages AI to integrate traders’ activities and offer real-time insights and analyses on their trades. The platform identifies patterns and trends in the market, providing traders with actionable insights to make informed decisions.
Orbitt MM is a volume booster Telegram bot designed to improve trading volumes and project visibility for developers. This sophisticated bot offers a white label solution, enabling projects to create their own branded volume-boosting bots. This generates new revenue streams, increases community engagement, and improves overall project visibility.
The Orbitt ecosystem is powered by its native token, $ORBT, which helps simplify trading and project launches and also provides access to advanced features on the platform. The token price has explosively grown since its launch in late March 2024, growing from its launch price of $0.06 to trade at $0.14, as of writing. With only 20 million $ORBT tokens to ever be created, the coin offers massive upward potential in the future.
Social Media & Community: Orbitt has over 20,000 followers across its X (Twitter), and Telegram pages. The token has over 6,500 unique wallet holders. The platform also includes regular educational updates and Twitter Spaces, called The Orbitt, driving up engagement and interest in the project.
Background & Team: The project is relatively new, having launched earlier in the year. The team comprises unnamed but experienced engineers, developers, and investors within the Web 3 space.
Jupiter Exchange ranks as the largest DEX on Solana in volume traded – $300 million daily volume. The exchange launched in October 2021, becoming one of the first on-chain swap aggregators on the network. The platform rose to prominence in 2022, offering users a state-of-the-art decentralized exchange with multiple features including limit orders, dollar cost averaging (DCA), efficient swap services, and perpetual exchange capabilities.
In January this year, the platform launched its native token, $JUP, airdropping millions of dollars worth of the token to early users. The token has performed rather well over the first six months of operation, gaining 16% to trade at $0.87, as of writing. Following the launch of $JUP, the exchange has witnessed explosive growth in trading volumes, with a total of $26 billion traded on the platform in June 2024.
Social Media & Community: The platform has two major social media pages – X (Twitter) and Discord with 570,000 combined followers and members. The platform boasts over 3 million unique wallets, showcasing its exponential growth in 2024.
Background & Team: As stated above, Jupiter Exchange launched in 2021. The founder remains pseudonymous, using the X monicker Meow. Ben Chow is the co-founder.
Roadmap & Potential: As the largest DEX on Solana, Jupiter Exchange shows a promising future for its users. The recent introduction of the LFG Launchpad has allowed community-driven projects to launch on Solana, driving further demand for the JUP token, which is used to access early-stage fundraising rounds. This could be crucial in driving adoption for its$JUP token in the future.
Despite the recent crypto market slide, the second half of 2024 presents great potential for blockchain projects, especially within the Solana ecosystem. The ecosystem’s robust architecture and continuous innovations offer a fertile ground for a diverse range of decentralized applications. The growth of its native token, $SOL, and the increased trading volumes emphasize the platform's resilience and potential.
With a strong roadmap and a booming community, Solana is well-positioned to support the ongoing evolution of Web 3 technologies. Investors, both new and seasoned, should carefully consider these mentioned projects for their portfolios, as they represent the forefront of innovation and potential in the Solana ecosystem. The journey ahead for Solana and its associated projects is promising, marking an exciting era for blockchain technology and its applications.
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Disclaimer: Analytics Insight does not provide financial advice or guidance on cryptocurrencies and stocks. Also note that the cryptocurrencies mentioned/listed on the website could potentially be scams, i.e. designed to induce you to invest financial resources that may be lost forever and not be recoverable once investments are made. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You are responsible for conducting your own research (DYOR) before making any investments. Read more about the financial risks involved here.
