Solana's growth comes at a time when the platform is actively engaging in blockchain gaming

Solana's star cryptocurrency, SOL, is on fire lately as it reached a plethora of all-time highs over the past few months. This comes at a time when bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies are also experiencing price rallies since October. However, Solana's growth went a step ahead as it pushed Cardano and settled as the top fourth cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The price growth was highly due to its expansion of features like blockchain gaming.

Although Solana's price is down by 0.55% in the past 24-hours, its seven-day average has experienced a 21% growth. Despite this slight downwards trend, SOL has hit another record high by touching US$260 yesterday. The cryptocurrency has proved to be the foremost ethereum killer as it overtook Cardano's place in the market. Solana is currently after ether. SOL's smart contract feature gives a tough competition to ethereum. Despite the US$526 billion market valuation gap between the two cryptocurrencies, experts say that SOL has the potential to take over Ethereum if it performs well in long term. The latest surge in Solana's price came at the backdrop of its investment arm, Solana Ventures, announcing a US$100 million funding boose in blockchain gaming. The venture is joining hands with Lightspeed Venture Partners to work on the new initiative. Solana has planned to use to money to support companies, gaming studios, start-ups, and other projects that are working on blockchain gaming.

Know About Solana

Unlike its competitor ethereum, which emerged as the first altcoin a few years after bitcoin debut, SOL is comparatively a young cryptocurrency to break into the top 10 list. Launched in 2020 by Anatoly Yakovenko, Solana is a cryptocurrency platform that supports smart contracts and the creation of decentralized applications (dapps).

The ability of Solana to work on both proofs of history (PoH) and proof of stake (PoS) models makes it unique among the myriad of cryptocurrencies. While PoS allows coin holders to check transactions based on the number of coins they hold, PoH fast tracks the verification as much as possible. As a result, the Solana platform can provide quick transactions facilities at a lower cost.

What Triggered the Recent Price Rally?

The recent price rally of SOL can be solely contributed to its interest in blockchain gaming. Already, Solana is the most preferred platform among developers who deal with de-fi and non-fungibel tokens (NFTs). Since ethereum's transactions fees are volatile, many choose Solana over that. Solana's blockchain gaming initiative will trigger both NFTs and their connectivity with blockchains.

Although the current blockchain games in the Solana platform are not up to the mark, its upcoming 'Star Atlas,' has the potential to beat Axie Infinity.

Solana vs Ethereum: The 'Ethereum Killer' is on its Track

Even though ethereum has a strong history in the cryptocurrency market, SOL has emerged as a major 'ethereum killer' since its inception. At the beginning of 2021, Solana was traded for US$1.5 and its value has gone up by 17,500% to reach the US$260 mark in the last ten months.

The smart contract capabilities between ethereum and Solana make them direct competitors to each other. While ETHER is quite slow, SOL has the power to make transactions quicker and efficient. Solana platform can do over 50,000 transactions per second. Besides, its in-built protocol has the ability to adopt de-fi and NFT projects. Recently, the NFT sales on the Solana platform are also on the rise as they surpassed US$500 million since August. Despite its extraordinary features, SOL dethroning ethereum seems to be a matter of the far future. The US$560 billion gaps between the cryptocurrencies will give a tough time to Solana before it overtakes ethereum.

Solana Price Prediction

The next major resistance to Solana's price is the US$500 mark. According to Coin Price Forecast, SOL has the potential to breach its resistance by the end of 2021. The prediction experts also opine that the value will double fold in 2022 and will rise to four times by 2023. Similarly, other predictions like LongForecast also suggest a similar story in the coming years.

Looking into the Future Ahead

Many believe that Solana will evolve to become the leader of NFTs and de-fi, and most recently, blockchain gaming. Solana's NFTs are also gaining momentum in the cryptocurrency space. Despite these growths, Ethereum 2.0 will be the biggest tumble in SOL's growth phase. Solana will have to wrestle its way past ethereum if ether emerges with even more advanced features. But on a general scale, Solana is doing well in the market and anticipations also suggest a prosperous future ahead.