Solana On The Rise With Bitcoin As Banks Disappoint

Over the weekend, Bitcoin, Solana, and The Sandbox saw significant gains, with Bitcoin reaching its highest level in nine months. This surge in crypto prices appears to be related to concerns around the global banking sector and investors exploring the idea that digital assets can provide diversification or a hedge against uncertainty [1]. The Swiss shotgun wedding between UBS and Credit Suisse, which essentially wiped out $17 billion of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds, led to market concerns around the health of the $275 billion AT1 bond market in Europe. This resulted in moves from central banks globally to coordinate U.S. dollar-swap arrangements, in an effort to add liquidity to the global financial system, which could create currency pressures in the U.S. and other developed economies [2].

Source: Coinmarketcap

For Solana and The Sandbox, the gains investors have seen over the weekend appear to be related to these projects’ higher-risk status within the digital assets space. With most cryptocurrencies gaining traction over the weekend, it’s likely no surprise to see higher-risk digital assets providing greater gains during this upward trend [1]. However, whether this safe-haven view is warranted remains to be determined over time. Bitcoin has traditionally been viewed as an asset class that should hold up relatively well, given its size and decentralized nature, in times like these.

Overall, investors appear to be exploring the idea that digital assets can provide diversification or a hedge against uncertainty, as concerns around the global banking sector drive them toward cryptocurrencies. While it remains uncertain whether this trend will continue, those who have diversified into this asset class due to the diversification and potential hedge these cryptos provide have seen positive results thus far [3].

Solana, one of the fastest-growing blockchain projects in the industry, has been making headlines with its increased deployment of unique contracts on the network, despite recent downtime that revived debates about the network’s issues [3]. In March, Solana observed a spike in the number of unique contracts deployed on the network, and data collected indicated that the increase was not unique to March and was the greatest level for the entire year. Seventy-five different contracts were active as of the time of writing. A few weeks ago, the figure had increased to 98, further demonstrating the volume of deployments that March has seen. These unique contracts can be used to produce one-of-a-kind digital goods, such as collectibles or artwork, in the context of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) [1].

Moreover, Solana’s development activities increased in March, mirroring the number of unique contracts, with the metric steadily regaining ground despite being below where it was before the network breakdown. As of this writing, the development activity was over seventeen, with some brief fluctuations being noticed. This increase in development activities and unique contract deployment indicates that creators still have faith in the network despite the recent downtime [2].

As for investors, according to an analysis of Binance funding rates, few investors are taking SOL positions, but the dominant position visible on the chart was a long position, which meant that investors were placing a bet on a rise in price in the future. Furthermore, according to the TradingView chart, Solana had been in an uptrend on a daily timeframe, and it had switched to a bull trend and managed to retain it, trading at about $21.6 at presstime and gaining over 2% [3].

In the cryptocurrency market, Solana has been among the few exceptions with a massive daily surge, up by 8% and helping it reclaim $23. The other notable gainers from the larger-cap alts include CRO, VET, and STX. The total crypto market cap has added almost $20 billion in a day and is back at $1.180 trillion. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has reacted positively to recent developments in the European banking sector, surging past $28,500 for the first time since June 2022, finishing one of its best weeks in a while after it surged from $20,000 to around $28,000 within the past seven days, and has gone to a new local peak of $28,500 before it retraced by $500 and has since bounced off once more [4].

Overall, the increase in unique contract deployment and development activities on the Solana network despite recent downtime indicates that creators still have faith in the network, which could be a positive sign for investors who place a bet on a rise in price in the future. Additionally, Solana’s daily surge shows that it still has the potential to compete with other cryptocurrencies in the market.

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