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Solana is one of the world's foremost cryptocurrencies. With prices rising, investors are speculating that a bull run is about to begin. We discuss if it may have already started in the article below.
Solana has continued to breach resistance levels recently. It recovered from $125, then moved up to clear the $140 resistance level and moved further to $142. However, a downside correction then began, signalling that breaching the psychological $150 barrier may be tough in the immediate future. But could the predicted SOL bull run have already begun, and is it just a matter of time until this barrier is smashed?
There are two major factors that may be contributing to a possible bull run for Solana, which could see it reach highs by as soon as April. It recently hit the breakout stage of a falling wedge. Since breaking an upper trend line, it has continued to drive upwards. A look at the Solana price analysis shows that at the time of writing, it is hovering around $137.89. However, by plotting this trend, it could soon reach $235, showing huge gains.
One burden on the price of SOL recently has been the meme coin sector. These are coins with no other value other than collectability. Housed on the Solana blockchain, they recently came under fire as a host of celebrity meme coins were criticized for misleading buyers.
However, this has now been rescinded, and a further 8 million tokens have been launched. On one evening alone in March, over 34,000 new coins were created. This signals increased interest and a recovery from the sector.
This is despite some meme coins still causing issues. Only yesterday, the Solana-based meme coin JellyJelly was delisted from a popular decentralized exchange. This was after a $6 million 20x leveraged shot was taken on the coin. The network validators intervened, suspecting suspicious market activity. The price of the coin surged as high as $0.043 before falling back down to $0.023. However, the move drew a high level of criticism, saying that this was against the morals of decentralized finance.
All of this shows an increase in the use of the network. Traditionally, a rise in price follows this. This has always been reflected in the upward march in the value of many available meme coins.
A tokenized money market created by investment firm BlackRock has now moved to the Solana blockchain, which can only increase confidence. Launched in March, it was done in partnership with Securitize. Known as the BUIDL, it has the largest market capitalization of tokenized United States treasuries. This stands just short of $1.7 billion. It has proven extremely successful since its inception, reaching $500 million in its first seven months. Pegged to the US dollar, it pays out dividends each month through Securitize. Tokenized money market funds were originally created on the Ethereum network but later expanded to others in a bid to attract more investors.
Another overlooked factor in how healthy Solana is doing as a network is to see how much revenue it is generating. Despite being decentralized, it still does give out rewards for those who help operate and manage the network. Since the chain launched, the apps on it have created over $2.5 billion in revenue. It is not uncommon to see $4.7 million generated in just over a 24-hour period. This is increasing year upon year, and fairly rapidly, showing growing adoption rates. Its market cap is now $6.6 billion.
Another factor inspiring confidence is the filing for exchange-traded funds that deal in Solana. This week, Fidelity registered its Solana fund, which many see as the first step toward a Solana exchange-traded fund. The company itself managed the second-largest Bitcoin ETF, so it has a track record of making this work.
This has been done through a filing with the Securities and Exchanges Commission. However, it is yet to complete a filing for an S-1. This is required when a company wants to list a new security on the stock exchange. It joins a host of other companies also jostling for positions, including VanEck and Grayscale.
One rival for SOL's crown in the ETF stakes is XRP. It has had a breakout year and has drawn plenty of interest from those who are looking to use crypto ETFs. This is despite it working on a blockchain that is rarely used.
This is because XRP spot trading is currently higher. It is now the fourth biggest cryptocurrency in the world, with a market cap of $142 billion. Many investors had been wary of it due to ongoing legal battles with the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, with this over, XRP now seems to be outdoing SOL in gains.
Both XRP and Solana saw high numbers of inflows to exchange-traded products this week. Solana itself saw $6.44 million in inflows, with other altcoins following suit. However, it was not a good week for Ethereum as it recorded $86 million in outflows amidst a run of bad weeks for the coin.
Solana has many more uses other than meme coins. It seems for a long-term trajectory, utilizing these in traditional finance is essential. However, until then, it may be a case of watching the blockchain and the market to see if this bull run will begin.
