2023 has seen Solana [SOL] make significant strides, establishing itself as a formidable competitor to Ethereum [ETH]. With the current price at $172.41, Solana has achieved a 12.07% increase over the past week, despite a slight 0.51% dip in the last 24 hours.
With a market cap of $81 billion and a circulating supply of 470 million SOL, Solana is demonstrating robust growth and investor interest.
Source: TradingView
Recent data from Lookonchain reveals that in the past three days, a new wallet withdrew 150,011 SOL (equivalent to $26.25 million) from Binance to stake it. This substantial staking activity indicates growing investor confidence and bolsters the bullish outlook on SOL.
Surge of 1,500% in Solana-Based memecoin
In parallel, a new memecoin based on Solana, Goatseus Maximus (GOAT), has experienced a staggering surge of almost 1,500% in just two weeks. This rapid growth occurred even before GOAT was officially listed on exchanges, underscoring the enthusiastic community support.
Currently trading at $0.6322, GOAT is consolidating its price, hinting at a potential rally in the near future.
Crypto analyst Altcoin Sherpa has highlighted GOAT’s promising start and suggested that it could lead the pack in the Solana memecoin realm.
Memecoins have been instrumental in boosting transaction volume and active addresses within the Solana ecosystem, contributing significantly to its recent growth trends.
DeFi Momentum and Network Metrics
Solana’s DeFi sector continues to exhibit vitality, with a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $6.69 billion, as per DeFiLlama data. Despite a slight 1.10% decline in the past 24 hours, Solana remains a dominant player in the DeFi landscape.
Daily data showcases 4.11 million active addresses and 37.88 million transactions, indicating robust user participation.
Source: DefiLlama
Revenue insights from the previous day reveal $4.55 million in fees and $2.27 million in revenue, reflecting a steady influx of network activity.
Solana’s capacity to maintain high transaction volumes and DeFi inflows could pave the way for future price escalations, especially as more users interact with its ecosystem.
Firedancer Upgrade: Catalyst for Future Growth
Furthermore, Solana’s upcoming Firedancer upgrade, scheduled for 2025, aims to boost network scalability and reliability by ramping up transaction throughput to 1 million transactions per second using sharding technology.
This upgrade has the potential to attract institutional investors, expanding user adoption beyond the memecoin sphere.
The Firedancer enhancement also targets reducing network downtime, addressing previous concerns. Analysts speculate that if Solana achieves these enhancements, its market cap could approach half of Ethereum’s, narrowing the gap between the two networks.