By Alicia Maher
Solana is on its way to living up to the name ‘Ethereum Killer’ in light of its recent performance amongst other altcoins. After grazing a previous all-time high of $150 as of last week, the altcoin has renewed its momentum again hitting a record high of $195 on September 7. In addition, Solana has hit a new high on its market value.
Solana (SOL) joined the table in the altcoins’ breakout led by the largest altcoin by market cap, Ethereum last week. SOL has maintained the momentum from the previous week when it gained 70% after moving from the depths of $36, confirming assertions that its blockchain will give Ethereum a run for its money.
Solana Displaces Dogecoin for Seventh Position on Highest Market Cap
Solana has claimed the seventh spot amongst the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, displacing meme cryptocurrency, Dogecoin and dwarfing its market value by more than $15 billion. As of press time, Solana’s market cap stands at over $52 billion, just less than $7 billion short of Ripple’s (XRP) market valuation. SOL has also surpassed Chainlink (LINK), Uniswap (UNI) and Polkadot (DOT) in terms of market capitalization according to data aggregator CoinGecko.
DeFi and NFT Activities at Their Peak, Contribute to Solana’s Growth
Solana has been growing against the backdrop of surging decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) activities. Fuelling its momentum further is the announcement from crypto and derivatives exchange, FTX over its newly launched custodial NFT marketplace. Although the new marketplace is exclusively for its US users, it will enable the minting, buying and selling of digital collectibles in the US market.
The Solana blockchain has a higher throughput and faster confirmation speed such that it is capable of processing 65,000 transactions per second. These super features are why it is being touted as an ‘Ethereum Killer alongside Cardano. The blockchain is also backed by Alameda Research, an R&D firm owned by Sam Bankman-Fried.
Ethereum’s Layer-2 solutions such as Arbitrum, Optimism are not left out as they have been witnessing a flurry of activities on their platforms. Meanwhile, global banking firm, JPMorgan acknowledged in a report that the influx of investors into the sectors of DeFi and NFT have not only assisted Ethereum but altcoins like Solana, Cardano in creating and smashing records due to their expansion into both sectors.
Native cryptocurrency of Cardano, ADA hit the $3 price mark for the first time since its inception. Cardano will introduce its smart contract functionality by Sept. 12 after the heightened anticipation. Perhaps by then, Cardano will be a strong contender for the title ‘Ethereum Killer’ along with its opponent, Solana.Native cryptocurrency of FTX exchange, FTT also joined SOL in the race to the top on Tuesday having leapt by 25% on the day to a record high of $83. Since last week, FTT has gained 73% outperforming Solana.