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Solana (SOL) reached its highest level since May 2022 with a 13.8% increase on December 20. The 33.5% increase over the past two weeks allowed SOL to surpass XRP in terms of market value for the first time. Excluding stablecoins, the asset became the fourth largest cryptocurrency.
Improved User Experience and Cheaper Transactions Drive SOL’s Rise
Some analysts are weighing the possibility of Solana’s network overtaking its competitor Ethereum, considering it offers cheaper and faster transactions. According to trader Evnass6, Solana’s performance provides a better user experience than Ethereum’s.
Several factors, including increased network activity and the launch of the SPL token, are contributing to the price increase. However, a more comprehensive analysis is needed to determine whether the current valuation is correct and whether there will be a rise above 100 dollars.
Airdrop Madness and Success of Jito Support SOL Price
The current rise in SOL price is backed by the airdrop mania that resulted in Solana’s Saga phone being completely sold out and trading at high prices on secondary markets.
Solana captured attention when major centralized exchanges listed the SPL token, JITO, inspired by Ethereum’s Lido’s liquid staking protocol, on December 7. Jito’s airdrop generated impressive profits for participants, and in the first few hours following the transaction, its market value surpassed $300 million. Successful listings on Coinbase and Binance also increased the demand for other airdrops and token launches on the Solana network.
A turning point occurred with the listing of the memecoin BONK on Coinbase on December 14, along with Solana’s Saga phone. Each phone bought approximately 30 million BONK.
DApp Activity Also Supports Solana (SOL) ‘s Rise
As evidenced by the growth of Solana’s network in terms of DApps, SOL’s rise extends beyond current memecoins. Just three weeks ago, on November 29, Solana’s TVL (total value locked) was only $654 million, representing a market share of just 1.4%. According to DefiLlama, this data has now increased by 96% to $1.28 billion.
Increasing activity in DApps accompanied deposit increases on the Solana network. It’s worth noting that the network’s volume increase outperformed its top competitors. Similarly, the number of unique active addresses interacting with Solana’s DApps impressively increased to 875,250, while most competing blockchains experienced a decrease during the same seven-day period.
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The recent activity increase on Solana could arguably be due to the anticipation of several upcoming airdrops and token launches, including but not limited to Bonkwifhat (BIF), Ribbit (RBT), Jupiter (JUP), Meow Coin (MEOW), Phantom, Kamino, Drift, and others. Moreover, the Solana network is consolidating its position by attracting more user participation, increasing its TVL, and attracting promising projects that could further strengthen its presence in the DApp industry.
Popular Wallet and Research Reports Support SOL
Popular hardware wallet provider Trezor announced its support for Solana and SPL tokens on December 20. Also on the same day, Binance Research released a bullish report on parallel computing, improving blockchain efficiency by “using computing resources more effectively”. The report specifically mentioned Solana as an example of parallel computing.
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