Solana Shows Ethereum Has a Serious Competitor

SOL was back in the $20s in October as SBF was on trial. Then, all of a sudden, Solana and SOL turned into just about the hottest things going. SOL is above $100 now for the first time since early 2022 and, at $47 billion, it's the fifth-biggest crypto – and it was briefly fourth-biggest earlier this week.

NameMarket CapitalizationBitcoin (BTC)$854 billionEthereum (ETH)$288 billionTether (USDT)$92 billionBNB$49 billionSolana (SOL)$47 billionXRP$35 billion
My colleague Danny Nelson cogently summed up recent events this weekend when SOL exceeded $100:
Saturday's price action capped weeks of frenzied trading that have – at least temporarily – vaulted the Solana blockchain up the leaderboard for on-chain activity. Solana-based decentralized exchanges are nearing Uniswap's multibillion-dollar trading volumes for the first time, according to DefiLlama. Much of that energy is being driven by rampant speculation.

Some of the most popular crypto assets being traded on Solana right now are dog-themed meme coins. But airdrops, too, are prompting droves of traders to test out Solana-based lenders, bridges and other infrastructure.
Ethereum remains the leader among layer-1 blockchains that can run smart contracts, aka the bedrock of DeFi. Ethereum has $29 billion of total value locked, a measure of money stashed in a particular blockchain's ecosystem, far exceeding Solana's $1.5 billion, according to DefiLlama data.
But recent events show Solana may be a serious competitor now.