Solana (SOL) Rises from the Ashes, Reclaims Top 10 Market Cap Position
Solana (SOL) is experiencing a strong rebound following a series of setbacks in December 2022, with an impressive 135% increase since the start of the year.
As reported by Coin68, the collapse of FTX in November severely impacted SOL's price, which at one point fell to around $8, marking its lowest value since February 2021.
The end of 2022 also saw a peak in negative news surrounding Solana, with several major projects on the network facing significant difficulties. Notably, Solana's leading NFT project, DeGods, decided to “migrate” to alternative blockchains Ethereum/Polygon. Serum (SRM) announced its shutdown, and Mercurial had to rebrand and issue a new token to sever ties with FTX.
However, positive sentiment seems to be returning to the Solana ecosystem. The price of SOL has seen a robust recovery, up 135% since the start of the year, and rising 45% in the past week. This impressive rebound has made SOL one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies of 2023 so far.
Chart: 1D SOL/USDT on Binance as of 01:00 PM on January 16, 2023
In fact, Solana briefly reclaimed its spot in the Top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap on January 15, according to CoinMarketCap. However, SOL has since fallen slightly and is currently just outside the top 10, holding the 11th position.
SOL is now trading around $23, marking a doubling of its value since the beginning of the year. Solana’s market capitalization has surged from $5 billion to nearly $9 billion in the past week.
Solana Metrics as of 01:00 PM on January 16, 2023. Source: CoinMarketCap
Solana began to attract attention again thanks to the memecoin BONK’s hype in early January, although this quickly fizzled out.
Another factor contributing to Solana's recent success is the endorsement from Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum. Buterin actively supported SOL’s recovery towards the end of last year, stating on Twitter:
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.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 29, 2022
Hard for me to tell from outside, but I hope the community gets its fair chance to thrive🦾🦾
“Some people have told me that Solana has a highly intelligent developer community, and now that the opportunists have been weeded out, this blockchain has a bright future ahead.
While I cannot assert anything as an outsider, I hope this community gets the chance to recover.”
