Solana (SOL), at the beginning of this month, made waves by surpassing Polygon (MATIC), and Optimism(OP) on the chain trading volume. This was a great reminder to the crypto-community that Solana is growing in strength. Solana outperformed Avalanche in terms of total value locked (TVL), within decentralized apps (dApps).
Anatoly Yakovenko, the co-founder of Solana, is credited with the project's recent successes. This success can be attributed to the growing interest in Solana projects, liquid stake protocols, decentralized exchanges and his leadership. Raoul Pal, a renowned trader, praised Solana's speed and ease of use. He compared it favorably to Ethereum. Solana's current momentum and resilience is a reminder that it has the potential to compete with some of the biggest players in the blockchain sector.
Solana Transactions Volume Beats Polygon & Optimism
The Solana blockchain made quite a splash in the cryptocurrency world at the start of this month by outperforming both MATIC, and OP, which are two popular Ethereum-based Layer 2 solution, in terms aggregated trading volume on the chain. The daily trading volume of Solana soared above $240,000,000 per day. Polygon and Optimism, on the other hand, recorded $137,000,000 and $40,000,000 per day respectively during this period. This accomplishment highlights Solana’s growing dominance, as it recorded more transactions on-chain than its Ethereum-based rivals combined.
Also, it is worth noting that the native token SOL of the network outperformed AVAX on Saturday in terms TVL within its dApp eco-system. Solana's dApp eco-system boasted a television value of $688,000,000, exceeding Avalanche’s $660,000,000. Solana's TVL could be challenged by Polygon and Optimism in the near future. In the last month alone, Solana TVL has risen by over 60%, while its price has risen by about 45%.
Solana, however, is still trying catch up with Arbitrum, an Ethereum Layer 2 solution that has a huge market share. Arbitrum boasts an impressive TVL of almost $2.2 billion, and a trading volume daily exceeding $363 millions.
Many people in the community have guessed what might be behind Solana’s recent successes. Many people believe that the success of Solana's projects, such as "SolScriptions" and meme coins has been attributed to the growing interest in Solana. Jito and Marinade Finance, two liquid staking protocols on the Solana blockchain, have been very successful at attracting new users as well as liquidity. Decentralized exchanges such as Raydium and Orca have also gained some traction in the Solana eco-system.
Solana Bouncing Back
The project is still a long way from its goal to become the "Nasdaq of the blockchain", but the SOL token has seen its price increase by 500% over the last year. Anatoly Yakovenko and his team of dedicated developers work hard to increase the global reach of the project through innovative products like the Sage Phone.
Ethereum supporters are still cautious about Solana because of its trade-offs. However, influential Ethereum developers and advocates believe that "monolithic chains" like Solana may be able to dominate the market, due to the difficulties in scaling Ethereum without compromising on user experience.
Yakovenko is also gaining respect in the crypto developer community as a result of his willingness and ability to participate in constructive and critical discussions on podcasts and social media. In this year's op-ed, the cofounder made a major step in his role of a prominent figure in the industry by writing it in Fortune. In his article, he argued for sensible regulation of digital currencies. He expressed his concern that an overly reactive approach to cryptocurrency regulations in the U.S. might lead to a loss of talent. He also said that he meets aspiring entrepreneurs who are eager to innovate within the U.S. technology sector, but they lack the knowledge of how to set up a blockchain compliant company. This highlights the need for clear regulations.
Solana vs Ethereum
Raoul Pal, a well-known crypto trader and investor, has joined the debate on the dominance of Ethereum and Solana. Pal compares the two blockchains by comparing Solana with the "Apple" and Ethereum to "Android." The analogy comes from the fact that Solana is known for its exceptional performance, similar to Apple. Ethereum's wide range of hosted dApps is more comparable to Android due to its vast ecosystem.
It seems that Solana is the clear winner when it comes to the preference of traders for the two blockchains. Pal claims that Solana is capable of doing almost anything Ethereum can. Pal said that Solana "feels super-fast, slick and inviting for the user". He also gushed over the ingenious design of Phantom Wallet, which is the most unhosted Solana Wallet.
The praise of Solana by industry leaders is a testament to the widespread consensus about the cryptocurrency's importance, particularly in light of its price recovery after the FTX event. Raoul Pal and other investors have been impressed by Solana, which has reached its highest price since 2023.
