SOL Price Rebounds from 2-Year Low After Vitalik Buterin’s Optimistic Comments

After hitting a new low for 2022, Solana (SOL) has experienced a slight recovery following comments from Vitalik Buterin expressing optimism about the cryptocurrency's future.

SOL Price Rebounds from 2-Year Low Thanks to Vitalik Buterin’s Optimism

As reported by Coin68, Solana (SOL) plummeted to $9.56 on December 28, marking its lowest value since February 2021.

The sharp decline was driven by a series of negative developments surrounding Solana’s ecosystem, particularly following the collapse of FTX and Alameda, two crucial pillars of the network.

Since then, prominent projects such as Serum (SRM) have announced their shutdown due to their connections with FTX. DeGods has moved its NFT collections to Ethereum/Polygon, and Mercurial has rebranded and launched a new token to distance itself from its past ties with FTX.

From early November to now, the Total Value Locked (TVL) on Solana has dropped from $1 billion to approximately $200 million, a reduction of over 80%. Solana’s TVL peaked at over $10 billion in November 2021.

TVL fluctuations of Solana over time, screenshot from DeFiLlama on December 30, 2022

By the early morning of December 30, Solana’s price fell further to $8, setting a new low for 2022. At this point, SOL’s market capitalization had dropped to $2.99 billion, pushing it to 19th place among the largest cryptocurrencies.

Given the current situation, many have lost optimism about Solana's recovery prospects, once hoped to be an Ethereum contender.

However, a prominent figure in the crypto industry has voiced support for Solana’s potential to overcome its current challenges. This figure, who has rarely commented on Solana before, is Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin.

In a tweet, Vitalik Buterin stated:

"Some smart people tell me there is an earnest smart developer community in Solana, and now that the awful opportunistic money people have been washed out, the chain has a bright future. Hard for me to tell from outside, but I hope the community gets its fair chance to thrive."

Tweet by Vitalik Buterin on December 29, 2022

Following Vitalik Buterin’s comments, SOL’s price saw a slight rebound from the $8 low, and has since moved back to around $10.

While these remarks are primarily supportive, they also highlight that Ethereum’s founder values developers who are dedicated to building and maintaining a blockchain through its ups and downs, contrasting with opportunists and fame-seekers in the ecosystem.

In November, Vitalik Buterin also expressed sympathy for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried following the FTX bankruptcy, although this was before allegations of fraud and subsequent legal action against Bankman-Fried emerged.

Vitalik’s response to the FTX collapse as summarized by Tuur Demeester on November 15, 2022