One Heck Of A Ride
Crypto could be symbolized by the craziest roller coaster ride you have ever been on. One coin that’s been making headlines lately is Solana (SOL). After a rough year that saw it drop over 80%, Solana seems to be back and better than ever. In the last seven days alone, the price of SOL has risen over 58% to $23.70, according to CoinGecko. Of course, this is a far cry from its highest of $260 back in 2021 but it is a good sign to see the token that once reached less than $9 move back up to over $20.
Not only that, but Solana is also seeing its highest trading volume since the week of the collapse of FTX, which caused Solana’s value to plummet along with the rest of the crypto market in November. This is a significant rebound for Solana, who just a month ago was sitting at a two-year low of $8.17 and had dropped out of the top twenty coins. There are many factors to the resurgence of the token but this week can mostly be attributed to a few things, one of them being a meme-token that has taken the Solana community by storm.
A good BONK!
But Solana’s resurgence isn’t just about luck, it’s also about the rise of BONK, a Solana-based meme token. BONK caused a frenzy around Christmas and pushed the price of SOL to a seven-day high at the start of the year. Collectors were eager to get their hands on another dog-themed token, similar to Dogecoin (DOGE) and the Ethereum-based Shiba Inu (SHIB) token.
BONK’s value skyrocketed 3,300% in the first week of the year, hitting $0.00000487 according to CoinGecko. Though its value has since dropped by 69%, it’s still sitting at a $57 million market cap and its value even rose 20% over the past 48 hours.
More Contributions
Another factor that’s contributed to Solana’s success is its planned migration of Helium to Solana. Announced in September, the price of SOL saw a small bump as a result, while Helium saw its native token value fall. But the team behind Helium, a distributed wireless network that offers users crypto tokens as rewards for sharing their home internet service, has presented a unified front in favor of the long-term benefits that Solana will provide. Solana’s faster transaction speed and ease of development are just a few of the perks that Helium sees in the move.
No other contribution is as significant as the one made by the community. Throughout the tumultuous time since the fall of FTX the real dedicated Solanians have banded together to keep the community strong. Developers have continued to build, creatives have continued to create NFTs, and markets have continued to insure that users, artists, and collectors are able to have the best and safest interactions on their platforms. There has indeed been a rise of community-driven responsibility and dedication and that has been a major factor in the continued life of what was once thought of as a dead blockchain by many. There are of course those that have abandoned ship for more “greener” pastures but the ones that are dedicated and refuse defeat have shown what community can do for any project.
Rising tide
It’s clear that Solana’s tide is rising and it is currently not showing any signs of slowing down. This is great news but we must remember the volatility of the market and the fact that many projects have already abandoned ship when it comes to Solana. There will be many things that need to be done in order to get Solana and the SOL token anywhere near 2021 highs.
The introduction of the Solana SAGA flagship phone, the SMS operating system and more will be needed to insure the constant growth of the platform. The NFT market of Solana is still strong no matter the fact that three very major NFT projects- DeGods, Y00ts, and Tiny Colony have already left the blockchain or are planning to very soon. With the crypto market constantly changing, it will be interesting to see where Solana goes from here, but one thing is for sure, Solana has always been a blockchain to keep an eye on as the rollercoaster of crypto continues its run.
