Solana’s native token, SOL, has seen extreme price volatility in recent weeks, fluctuating between local highs of $102 and $78 before bouncing back to $80. Despite the fluctuations, network data shows continued user growth and development activity that could support SOL’s upside potential.
TLDR
- The price of Solana’s SOL token reached resistance at $102 on January 17, before correcting 23% to $78.60.
- The price rebounded 10% within 24 hours, helped by new network upgrades such as token expansion for confidential transfers and enterprise applications.
- The Firedancer verification client in development aims to increase Solana’s throughput to millions of transactions per second.
- Network indicators show strength. The total value of Solana locked in DeFi is nearing a three-month high despite the price decline.
- DApp data also looks positive. Trading activity and volume have increased, with active users up 12% in the past week.
The price adjustment coincides with the v1.17 network upgrade, which brings desirable features such as confidential token transfers and protocol-level fee capabilities aimed at enterprises. The improvements sparked interest in the community, but did not completely reverse the downward price trend.
However, network stability and reliability indicators paint an optimistic picture for Solana. Blockchain retained its performance in 2023 even as competitors dealt with disruptions.
Additionally, a new validator client called Firedancer promises to increase throughput to millions of transactions per second in the future.
It will be interesting to see how stable Solana is after the big patch in 2022. At the same time, it maintained incredible performance while skyrocketing usage and outperforming its competitors in most metrics.
The network will continue to improve, @jump_firedancer It’s coming. https://t.co/XMVo2GePuJ pic.twitter.com/QDH2iX0Fgf
— R89 (@R89Capital) January 22, 2024
The network also saw the first token airdrops of SPL tokens like Jito and BONK reach centralized exchanges in December 2023. The event sparked a surge in interest in acquiring SOL tokens as users rushed to qualify for current and rumored drops.
The underlying Solana decentralized app (DApp) adoption indicator shows similar momentum. The total value locked in the Solana DeFi protocol rose again towards a three-month high of 15.3 million SOL despite price weakness.
DApp user numbers are also outpacing competing blockchains. Active users increased by 12% last week compared to flat or negative growth for Ethereum, BSC, and Polygon. Major DApps like Jupiter Exchange and Raydium exceed Ethereum’s DeFi app activity.
Solana’s end-user adoption and network development continue to grow even while SOL’s price fluctuates significantly. The positive trajectory across network fundamentals gives us confidence that the path of least resistance for Solana and its underlying cryptocurrency assets is upwards.