Solana Gains Momentum Defying All Odds. SOL Set For Serious Gains

Many altcoins have experienced significant declines exceeding 40% since March, yet a few have shown remarkable strength. Solana stands out as one of these resilient altcoins, prompting speculation about its potential for a bullish surge once the cryptocurrency market reaches a parabolic phase. In this article, we will explore Solana's recent developments and discuss the possibility of SOL reaching new heights in the upcoming months. Whether you are already invested in SOL or contemplating adding it to your portfolio, this information is essential reading.

Significant developments have unfolded in the brief span of three months since the last Solana update. Notably, Solana surpassed Ethereum regarding stablecoin trading volumes, a milestone achieved during a mini-surge in altcoins in March, and Solana was a vital driver of this trend. Notably, SOL’s value peaked just before the FTX estate revealed its plan to offer 41 million SOL tokens to investors at a substantial 68% discount, amounting to approximately $7.6 billion.

FTX completed its over-the-counter (OTC) sales in May, but a crucial aspect to consider is that these deals are tied to a four-year vesting period. This means that when the buyers eventually sell their SOL, they will likely face minimal albeit steady selling pressure. 

Solana Memecoins, Payments 

Solana's surge in popularity can be attributed to the numerous memecoins created on its platform, particularly after the launch of Pump.fun memecoin generator in March. This memecoin hype caused a significant increase in transaction fees, which led to Solana surpassing Ethereum in terms of fees generated. However, the high volume of memecoin transactions caused congestion issues on Solana's blockchain, and despite not experiencing any actual outages, it was severely impacted, rendering the network nearly unusable.

Congestion problems first appeared in April and have since been a significant factor in the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) surrounding SOL’s price. Solana's validators then implemented a technical upgrade to address the congestion problems, yet they continue to affect some users. Despite this, institutional investors remain unfazed and continue to include SOL in their crypto portfolios.

According to a report by CoinShares, 15% of institutional investors surveyed have raised their investments in SOL since the beginning of the year. Some of these investors likely obtained their exposure through FTX OTC sales. Another positive development for Solana occurred in April when it was announced that Stripe, a major payment processor, would enable USDC payments on multiple blockchains, including Solana.

The importance of Solana's self-positioning as a blockchain for crypto payments cannot be overstated. The announcement in May that PayPal had introduced its PYUSD stablecoin on Solana's platform is particularly noteworthy. In an open letter, PayPal explained its decision to build on Solana, highlighting the network's rapid finality and low fees. Additionally, they emphasized their intention to utilize PYUSD on Solana for commerce and payment purposes, citing its confidential transfer feature. This development could catapult Solana's value to unprecedented heights, with stablecoin payments emerging as a game-changing use case.

June was a whirlwind of activity for Solana. Following the news of its collaboration with PayPal, institutional investors significantly increased their investment in SOL. But they weren't the only ones eager to get in on the action—Circle, the issuer of USDC, also revealed plans to introduce enhanced stablecoin features on the Solana platform.

It’s worth mentioning that Solana is identified as the designated blockchain platform for USDC, as stated in a blog post by Circle. The current status of this arrangement is uncertain following the dissolution of the Center Consortium in August 2023, which was composed of Coinbase and Circle.

Solana Enhancements, ETFs, Regulations  

Solana has made significant iterations, including introducing Solana Actions and blockchain links (Blinks). These innovative tools enable seamless integration of blockchain transactions into various platforms, providing a user-friendly Web3 experience. With Solana Actions, users can efficiently execute on-chain transactions across different platforms, including websites, social media, and physical QR codes, allowing for enhanced flexibility and convenience.

With Solana Blinks, any action can be converted into a shareable link, enabling any website or platform that supports URLs to initiate a Solana transaction using a Solana wallet. This innovative feature seamlessly integrates on-chain transactions into various online platforms, including websites and social media, eliminating the need for users to navigate away from their current page. Thus, decentralized apps become more accessible, intuitive, and user-centric. Most would say that’s pretty remarkable! 

However, what’s not so remarkable is the concerning development of the CFTC, which is investigating Jump Crypto, a crucial entity within the Solana network. Jump Crypto has played a vital role in shaping Solana's infrastructure, having contributed to the creation of the Pith Network Oracle and the Wormhole bridge and collaborating on the development of Solana's Fire Dancer client. The potential implications of this investigation on Solana's growth are uncertain. They may hinge on the extent to which other companies within the ecosystem are involved in developing Fire Dancer.

Thankfully, the attention Solana received regarding the Jump Crypto CFTC investigation has been overshadowed by the announcement that VanEck had applied for a Solana ETF in June. Nevertheless, despite the recent greenlighting of similar ETFs for Ethereum, industry insiders believe it's unlikely that Solana will receive ETF approval anytime soon.

However, several analysts have pointed out that the approval of a SOL ETF may become more feasible if there is a change in the presidential administration following the November elections, as this could lead to a shift in leadership of the SEC. Despite being a challenging prospect, a growing consensus across party lines in Congress supports cryptocurrency. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas emphasized that the deadline for the SOL ETF approval is expected to be around March next year. Additionally, 21Shares submitted an ETF application after VanEck, and it is anticipated that other asset managers may also pursue similar ETF offerings, opening up exciting possibilities for SOL's future.

Predictions regarding the impact of a potential SOL ETF on the price of SOL vary widely, similar to the discussions around Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. While some forecasts suggest that the ETF may have minimal influence on SOL's price, others anticipate a significant surge, possibly exceeding its current value by nine times. One piece of evidence supporting the bullish outlook is the substantial premium at which Grayscale’s Solana Trust (GSOL) is trading in comparison to its net asset value, indicating institutional optimism.

According to CoinBureau's crypto specialists, SOL's optimal price ceiling during a strong market surge is estimated to be around $1200. Notably, this forecast aligns with the 9x growth predictions made by other industry experts, and those ETFs will likely launch when the crypto bull market reaches its most enthusiastic and optimistic peak, potentially leading to a significant surge in SOL's price.

SOL Price Outlook

SOL has been an outlier among altcoins, bucking the trend of recent price crashes. Instead, it has been trading within a tight range of $130 to $200 since late February. It is essential to highlight that a similar scenario is observed with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major altcoins. Typically, periods of consolidation are followed by significant breakouts either above or below the established range.

Source: CoinBureau.com

The chart above indicates that SOL could reach $300 if it breaks out upwards in the upcoming weeks or drop to $90 if it breaks out downwards in the same period. However, predicting the direction SOL will take is not determined by knowing its potential high or low points. To resolve this, we need to examine the factors influencing the new supply, such as selling pressure, and the factors driving demand, known as buying pressure.

The price is influenced by supply and demand dynamics. SOL's supply has reportedly risen by approximately 20 million units over the past three months. If all the newly supplied tokens were sold, SOL trading at an average price of $150 could have resulted in up to $3 billion worth of selling pressure in under four months. However, despite this significant supply increase, the demand for SOL seems even more extraordinary.

A few key statistics to consider:

1. Notably, the Phantom wallet has surpassed 4 million downloads, marking a significant milestone. It was reported to have reached 3 million downloads just a few months prior, as highlighted in a recent Solana updates article, showcasing its rapid growth.
2. DAP radar indicates that Solana has recorded over 5.5 million unique active wallets in just three days. This figure represents four times the 1.4 million wallets recorded in March. Additionally, DApp Radar has observed a 50% rise in active wallets within the past month.
3. Solana's DeFi protocols have maintained a total value locked of approximately $4.7 billion, even as the price of SOL has dropped by 20 – 30% from its recent peaks. This is noteworthy as it indicates that fresh funds are flowing into Solana's DeFi protocols despite the decrease in price and the overall negative market sentiment.
4. Furthermore, this trend is supported by data from Solscan's analytics page, which shows that the daily number of active Solana wallets has remained stable, hovering around the 900,000 mark.

Source: Solscan

Solana’s Roadmap And Catalysts That Could Boost SOL

Returning to SOL's current and future price action, its resilience can be attributed to the strong demand aspect of the supply-demand dynamic. The ongoing uptrend in the factors driving demand indicates a greater likelihood of SOL breaking higher. Put simply, there is a higher probability of SOL surging to $300 in the coming weeks than plummeting to $90, representing a significant 50% increase from its current value. However, it's important to note that a break above $200 is required for this scenario to play out, and that would need a catalyst to trigger it.

It just so happens that Solana has a slew of forthcoming milestones that could act as a growth catalyst. One of the most significant is Fire Dancer, a cutting-edge validator client generating much buzz. To provide a quick update, Fire Dancer is a game-changer because it has the potential to enhance Solana's speed significantly. A member of the Fire Dancer team shared that it will initially boost Solana's transaction capacity to 20,000 transactions per second (TPS) with plans to increase that number to a whopping 1 million TPS gradually.

Solana has achieved a peak speed of approximately 7,000 TPS to date. However, its maximum potential TPS is believed to be around 65,000. A Fire Dancer team member disclosed that the actual figure is nearer to 200,000 TPS. Nevertheless, exceeding the indicated TPS level brings about significant challenges, implying that scaling up to 1 million will necessitate additional modifications.

Source: Chainspect

Concerning the project schedule, Anatoly Yakovenko, the founder of Solana, has repeatedly stated in interviews that his team aims to launch the initial version before the September Breakpoint conference. The recent announcement of a bug bounty program for Fire Dancer suggests that the release will likely happen sooner rather than later. However, it’s worth noting that Jump Crypto, a company assisting with the development of Fire Dancer, is currently under investigation by the CFTC, which may impact the project's timeline.

Additionally, Solana has experienced a string of technical problems in the past. A team member from Solana's Jito validator client recently shared in an interview that Fire Dancer may also face some challenges. If Fire Dancer propels SOL above the $200 mark, the driving force behind its surge past $300 will likely be unveiled at Breakpoint.

Notably, previous conference announcements have significantly impacted the price. In addition to Fire Dancer and any other announcements to be made at the conference, Solana has two other important events coming up that could increase the value of SOL. One of these is creating a formal on-chain governance structure, a topic discussed in Solana’s forums. 

A well-defined governance framework can help Solana shift towards a more decentralized model, which may alleviate the regulatory pressure the SEC has exerted on it. In case you missed it, the SEC has identified SOL as an unregistered security in its legal actions against major cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Coinbase.

A crucial upcoming development that could propel SOL's growth is the potential passage of stablecoin-related legislation in the US, although its timing is uncertain. Austin Federa, Solana Foundation's strategy head, recently asked crypto-friendly politician Bill Haggerty in an interview about this matter. Unfortunately, Haggerty's response suggested that the regulatory approval process would be prolonged due to ongoing Democratic opposition in the Senate despite widespread bipartisan support. This delay may be why major SOL stakeholders have been increasing their financial backing of Republican candidates.

The outlook for Solana over the next eight months is quite eventful. With Fire Dancer on the horizon, followed by the pivotal Breakpoint event, upcoming stablecoin regulatory developments (should the Republicans prevail in the November elections), and a potential ETF launch early next year (again, contingent on a Republican win), the path is paved for SOL to potentially reach the $1000 mark before the crypto market's bull run concludes. However, achieving this feat will hinge on various external factors beyond Solana's control falling into place.

Solana Challenges

One of the primary obstacles facing Solana is regulatory issues. Despite the optimism around stablecoin payments, the negative impact of the Jump Crypto CFTC investigation cannot be ignored. If the legal proceedings escalate to the point where Jump is forced to reduce its involvement in the cryptocurrency sector, it could have significant consequences. This scenario is not merely a matter of speculation.

The leader of Jump's crypto business resigned recently. If a major company within the Solana network reduces its operations, it could considerably delay the progress of Fire Dancer and similar projects. The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) continued examination of Solana as a financial asset is expected to persist for the foreseeable future. Moreover, if the Democratic party gains control of Congress in the upcoming election, Solana can likely expect even more rigorous oversight.

Solana faces a second hurdle: stiff competition. With its impressive speed, it's easy to overlook that it's not the only high-performance Layer 1 blockchain on the scene. Rivals like Aptos and Sui, dubbed "Solana killers," are rapidly gaining traction in the Layer 1 space. Anatoly has publicly expressed concerns about these projects' threats, and for good reason. The technology behind Aptos and Sui has been years in the making, originating from Facebook's Libra project, underscoring the significant resources and expertise behind these emerging competitors.

In any case, Aptos and Sui possess a dual advantage, boasting cutting-edge technology and established connections. Furthermore, developers have found the Move programming language highly accessible and easy to work with. Although Aptos and Sui have not yet reached the same level of adoption as Solana, any technical glitches experienced by Solana could prompt a mass exodus, similar to how alternative platforms gained traction when Ethereum's high gas fees became prohibitively expensive.

This leads to the third hurdle, namely development complexity. Solana's developers, including Anatoly, often joke that building on Solana is as painful as "chewing on glass," making it precarious when rival platforms offer seemingly effortless coding experiences. A notable example is Soulend, formerly one of Solana's most prominent DeFi protocols, which has opted to deploy on Sui as Suilend. While this doesn't imply that Solend has completely abandoned Solana, it does suggest that developers and projects within the Solana ecosystem are actively exploring alternative blockchain options.

The Bottom Line 

Despite everything mentioned, Solana stands out as a leading cryptocurrency project, and its native coin, SOL, is expected to achieve significant growth in the near future. If Solana successfully tackles its obstacles and achieves its milestones, SOL could pleasantly surprise investors. Many experts in the crypto space share this sentiment, predicting that Solana will be among the top-performing large-cap cryptocurrencies. 

Some believe that SOL may even lead the pack regarding percentage gains, which could positively impact the altcoins within the Solana ecosystem. They may also witness substantial gains compared to their counterparts, potentially leading to impressive growth.

Many will know that Markethive’s token, Hivecoin (HVC), has been successfully integrated into the Solana blockchain. Solana stands out as the only blockchain capable of meeting the massive demands of Markethive's decentralized social market broadcasting network, which generates ever-increasing amounts of data and content. Other blockchains lack the technological capabilities to support an application of this scale and complexity.

Projects like Markethive that have pioneered a specific field and offer genuine utility to the broader community possess a unique advantage. Markethive belongs to the category of first movers and provides a wide range of practical applications, enabling it to gain a significant portion of the market. 

Leveraging Solana's technology, Markethive is well-positioned to become the premier choice for a decentralized, uncensored platform that integrates all aspects of social media, marketing, broadcasting, publishing, eCommerce, and business facilitation thereby creating a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem for individuals from all backgrounds. 

This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

2024 Updates On Solana Network, SOL Price Potential, and The Markethive Community Wins

With Bitcoin's record-breaking surge, the crypto community is abuzz with anticipation for the next altcoin to make a significant leap. And all signs are pointing to SOL. Solana has shown remarkable resilience recently and is on the cusp of achieving significant milestones that could trigger a substantial price surge. This growth potential is an exciting prospect for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investors.

SOL, a native cryptocurrency of the Solana blockchain, holds immense potential. It covers costs on the Solana network through burning and can be deposited as a stake to operate a blockchain node. SOL tokens are not just for trading and peer-to-peer transactions but also as rewards for staking SOL. Since its introduction to the market in March 2020, it has gained significant popularity, being recognized as one of the top ten cryptocurrencies on CoinMarketCap. With a market capitalization of $61.9 billion and 618,596 SOL tokens in circulation, SOL is poised for a promising future.

As valued members of the Markethive community, we've been at the forefront of Solana's journey, given that our own Hivecoin operates on the Solana blockchain. This previous article from 2022 provides an overview of Solana, highlighting its blockchain's suitability for supporting Markethive's decentralized ecosystem. In this update, I will discuss Solana's recent developments, explore SOL's potential growth, and identify the key factors that could drive its value higher, emphasizing Solana’s crucial role in the Markethive community in this exciting journey.

Solana Has Been Making Waves

Solana, a layer-1 protocol in the blockchain arena, stands out with its exceptional transaction velocity and affordability. It can handle an impressive 50,000 to 65,000 transactions per second, far surpassing Ethereum's current processing power of around 30 transactions per second. This cutting-edge platform deploys smart contracts and decentralized applications, leveraging a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism that ensures ease of access and timestamped transactions to optimize performance.

This article highlights Solana's eight core features, including its groundbreaking Sealevel technology. This innovative feature allows concurrent execution of multiple smart contract runtimes on a single chain, thereby significantly boosting the network's ability to handle multiple transactions simultaneously.

Since its establishment in 2017, Solana has experienced significant growth and development, forging connections with major technology corporations like Google, Visa, and Amazon. These alliances are crucial benchmarks for blockchain initiatives, as they validate the project's credibility, demonstrating real-world adoption, practical use cases, and technological progress.

Solana has forged alliances with a diverse range of notable entities, including Chainlink, a decentralized data provider on Ethereum, and two leading stablecoin issuers: Tether, which has integrated its USDT token into Solana's network, and Circle, whose USDC stablecoin is a critical player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. 

Moreover, Solana has partnered with Asics, a renowned sportswear brand, and Membrane Finance, a Finnish fintech company that has introduced the first Euro-backed stablecoin on the Solana platform. Notably, Solana's collaboration with e-commerce giant Shopify has opened the door for customers to make purchases using USDC, further expanding the utility of the Solana ecosystem.

In May 2023, Solana unveiled the Saga, a cutting-edge Android smartphone boasting robust blockchain capabilities. This innovative device is now accessible to consumers in various countries, including the UK, EU member states, Canada, the US, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Australia.

Concurrently, Solana revealed its collaboration with ChatGPT, a cutting-edge technology born out of Solana Labs. According to Anatoly Yakovenko, the founder and CEO, "AI will make Solana more usable and understandable." The open-source ChatGPT plugin seamlessly merged with Solana's ecosystem, initially facilitating various operations, including NFT acquisitions, token transfers, finding NFT collections, reviewing transactions, and interpreting public account data.

The frenzy surrounding meme coins on Solana kicked off in December 2023 with the debut of the BONK token. The subsequent distribution of BONK to owners of Solana's Saga smartphone led to the device selling out, and it appears to have had a ripple effect, causing Solana's future phone releases to sell out as well. Amidst the chaos of meme coin excitement, Solana made two significant announcements that flew under the radar.

One notable development was Circle's decision to launch its euro-pegged stablecoin natively on the Solana blockchain. It's worth mentioning that Solana was previously designated as the preferred blockchain for Circle's USDC, although it's unclear if this is still the case. Combined with the recent approval from New York regulators for Paxos to issue its assets on Solana, institutional investors increasingly view Solana as a viable alternative to Ethereum.

Source: X

Could a Solana Spot ETF Be the Next Big Thing?

Following the debut of Bitcoin spot ETFs in January, there has been mounting anticipation about the potential for a similar investment product dedicated to Solana. This buzz seems to have originated from statements made by Franklin Templeton, a prominent asset management firm, which emphasized Solana's notable advantages on the social media platform X.

Despite expectations, Bloomberg's ETF analyst James Seyffart casts doubt on the imminent arrival of a Solana ETF, citing the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) ongoing scrutiny. The SEC's classification of SOL as a security in its recent lawsuits against major exchanges Binance and Coinbase may be a significant hurdle. 

Nevertheless, Solana may still have a chance to secure its own ETF in the future. This prospect appears to hinge on whether SOL is listed on the prestigious Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), following in the footsteps of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Industry insiders believe that SOL and other prominent cryptocurrencies like ADA and DOT will eventually be listed on the CME, particularly since the exchange began providing pricing data for these assets in 2022.

Beyond the excitement surrounding ETF speculation, Solana garnered attention in January by introducing Token Extensions, a new development designed to facilitate widespread adoption among institutional investors. Essentially, these extensions represent fresh token standards on the Solana platform, boasting integrated compliance and privacy safeguards to meet the specific needs of institutional users.

Obstacles Facing Solana

Despite the positive developments, Solana's progress was hindered by a significant setback in early February when the network suffered unexpected downtime. This marked the first such incident in nearly 12 months. However, it's important to note that Solana's team swiftly addressed the issue, demonstrating their commitment to maintaining the network's stability. A thorough investigation subsequently identified the outage's root cause as a known bug previously flagged by developers, reassuring us of Solana's ability to overcome challenges and continue its upward trajectory.

Institutional investors prioritize consistency and stability above all else, so Solana's downtime may have affected their trust in the project. Nevertheless, this setback did not prevent Abu Dhabi from collaborating with Solana to develop blockchain solutions. Moreover, it did not deter Sam Bankman-Fried, the embattled founder of FTX, from promoting SOL to his prison authorities.

In addition, Binance revealed in March 2024 that it had put a temporary hold on withdrawals due to overwhelming network activity on the Solana blockchain. Around the same time, Coinbase users may recall similar notifications. Clearly, the Solana network became overwhelmed due to the surging popularity of memecoins, which reached a fever pitch and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in presale revenue on the platform.

Several people drew parallels between these pre-sales and the excitement surrounding Ethereum's initial coin offering (ICO) during the bullish market 2017. Yet, the underlying technical causes of the problems caused by this congestion may be obscure. A deeper understanding reveals that the congestion problems primarily stemmed from the Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) mechanism provided by Solana clients, particularly Jito, which ceased its mempool functionality in March 2024.

To clarify for those who may not know, MEV gives validators the ability to reorder transactions in a way that boosts their earnings. As a result, some transactions may not be processed successfully, leading to exchange problems.

Furthermore, transactions are temporarily stored in mempools before being included in the blockchain. While Solana's fundamental structure does not include a mempool, Jito's block engine, which aims to maximize extractable value (MEV), does have one. As a result, numerous expensive front-running attacks have been carried out on cryptocurrency traders, including sandwich attacks.

In the end, the Jito Labs team sees negative MEV, including sandwich attacks, as a hindrance to the Solana ecosystem, which is why they have decided to suspend it. Nonetheless, they are committed to providing an additional revenue stream for validators and stakers while striving to make Solana the top choice for all users in terms of performance.

On a positive note, Jito's bundle and block processing systems remain functional, and the rewards for maximizing extractor value (MEV) have not experienced a significant decline. Moreover, the attractive economic benefits will likely motivate teams to develop similar mempool solutions inspired by Jito's model.

It's worth noting that Franklin Templeton remains optimistic about Solana's prospects, as evidenced by a recent research report shared with its clients, which argues that memecoins can successfully drive user growth. This suggests that the recent surge in memecoin popularity may be intentionally orchestrated to achieve this goal. The results support this theory, with Solana reportedly surpassing Ethereum in terms of decentralized exchange trading volume.

Source: X

SOL’s Price Movement 

Solana's price movement has been influenced by its recent updates, announcements, and progress, leading to significant SOL value growth. Analysis of on-chain data indicates that this surge in price may be attributed to the popularity of memecoins, with an increase in user activity and transactions on the Solana network. This trend is further supported by the growing adoption of the Phantom wallet browser extension, which has now surpassed 3 million downloads.

Let's take a step back to appreciate the rapid progress: just six months ago, Phantom had 2 million downloads—this stark contrast highlights Solana's astounding growth rate, which is accelerating at an incredible pace. A closer look at on-chain data reveals a remarkable surge in Solana accounts, with growth rates reminiscent of the crypto market's peak in 2021.

According to DappRadar's statistics, the Raydium DEX on Solana has attracted nearly 1.3 million unique wallets, while the Magic Eden NFT Marketplace has gained 300,000 new wallets. This indicates a resurgence in Solana's NFT environment. Current data shows that Solana NFT transactions have reached a significant milestone of $5 billion in trading volume.

Source: DappRadar

The importance of this lies in the fact that SOL is a necessary prerequisite for purchasing memecoins and NFTs on the Solana platform. As a result, any individual seeking to invest in or speculate on these digital assets must initially acquire SOL, thereby generating a surge in demand. This increased demand has been the primary force driving up the value of SOL over the past few months.

However, that only addresses the demand side of the situation. When considering the supply side of the equation, historical information indicates that the SOL supply has risen by around 20 million in the past six months. Therefore, using an estimated price of $150 per SOL could lead to potential selling pressure amounting to as high as $3 billion.

Despite significant selling pressure, SOL's price came remarkably close to reaching a record high, implying that the demand was exceptionally strong, possibly exceeding $3 billion. Alternatively, the selling pressure may have been overstated. Nevertheless, observing the substantial funds invested in memecoins is quite revealing.

As mentioned in this article, the rise in popularity of memecoins is thought to be caused by the absence of new retail investors entering the market. This situation may have encouraged large-scale investors, known as "whales,"  to target the existing retail investors familiar with decentralized exchanges (DEXs), leading to the hype surrounding memecoins. Despite the underlying reasons, Solana (SOL) displays a strongly optimistic outlook across various time frames.

Source: Messari

Solana’s Actual Road Map For 2024

Solana developed a de facto roadmap for 2024, established by the Solana Foundation in January. This plan includes four key milestones. The first milestone was the introduction of Token Extensions, completed in January. The second milestone involves the rollout of new validator clients, such as Fire Dancer, which is already operational on the testnet. Without delving into complex technical details, validator clients effectively enable validators to engage with the blockchain, enhancing network performance. 

The introduction of the Fire Dancer client is expected to substantially boost Solana's speed, although the exact improvement remains uncertain. Anatoly Yakovenko, the founder of Solana, mentioned in a December 2023 discussion that the Fire Dancer client is anticipated to be launched by the upcoming Breakpoint Conference in September 2024.

Interesting tidbit: With the successful integration of Fire Dancer, Solana will finally shed its beta label. This milestone, combined with the anticipated boost in performance, is expected to have a profoundly positive impact on SOL's value. Many experts believe this could be the spark that propels SOL to surpass the $300 mark in the upcoming weeks.

The next significant benchmark on Solana's defacto roadmap is unspecified institutional support. This milestone marks a crucial step forward, indicating that businesses now have unrestricted access to a comprehensive suite of tools necessary for building on the Solana platform. Furthermore, given Solana's ambition to emulate a decentralized version of the NASDAQ exchange, the integration of tokenized, real-world assets is likely on the horizon.

The following key objective is establishing a “mature building ecosystem,” where Solana’s developers are encouraged to leverage the full range of tools to create innovative products and services on the platform. The authors identify six critical focus areas: developing gaming finance applications, (GameFi) decentralized autonomous organizations, (DAOs)  permission products, infrastructure solutions, payment systems, and interoperability features.

The Solana Foundation recently announced a new milestone in a blog post involving an upcoming upgrade to address Solana's congestion problems. This upgrade began in mid-April and may include potential MEV functionality.

The Governance Forum of Solana has indicated that it plans to develop a new governance framework. An article published in August 2023 mentions that the introduction of this governance structure is expected in the first quarter of 2024. However, it remains to be seen whether it has been finalized at this point.

Closing Thoughts on Solana

Anatoly Yakovenko, the mastermind behind Solana, noted in an interview the importance of considering the potential shift in efficiency between decentralized and centralized exchanges. As decentralized exchanges become more effective, centralized cryptocurrency exchanges will likely transition to utilizing the decentralized blockchain for enhanced efficiency. Solana is determined to be at the forefront of this shift and has a strong possibility of emerging as the go-to blockchain solution.

Solana boasts 29.7 million active accounts and 340 million minted NFTs. With fast block times at 400ms and a low median TX fee of $0.00064, the network is known for its energy efficiency and zero net carbon impact. Despite notable obstacles, the Solana ecosystem has shown impressive resilience and sustained expansion. It has emerged as a leading candidate for managing millions of users on decentralized trading platforms.

Solana is an impressive venture supported by influential figures who believe in the network. The team is both reliable and innovative. Despite being in beta, Solana has demonstrated its capabilities beyond just a polished interface, processing billions of transactions. Additionally, the company started modestly without relying on massive amounts of venture capital, focusing on achieving tangible outcomes. These aspects collectively indicate a focus on delivering results.

Markethive Thrives On The Solana Blockchain

Solana is a perfect fit for the Markethive ecosystem, empowering the Markethive to further its mission of creating a fully decentralized platform for social media, marketing, and broadcasting where users can freely express themselves without fear of censorship. This all-encompassing ecosystem provides a comprehensive suite of tools for social media, marketing, broadcasting, publishing, eCommerce, and business facilitation. Ultimately, this collaboration aims to create an environment where individuals from diverse backgrounds can flourish in a cottage industry economy.

A key long-term goal is to launch the Markethive blockchain and decentralized exchange (DEX). This comprehensive project, designed to operate independently at every level, will resist the oppressive forces affecting societies worldwide. Multiple components of Markethive's ecosystem are being developed in tandem, preparing the way for the millions seeking a safe haven and reclaiming their independence. We have established our sovereign merchant account and successfully activated the Markethive wallet.

To conduct transactions through your Markethive wallet, you will need Solana's native coin (SOL) for the transaction fees, as Markethive’s Hivecoin (HVC) is a Solana token. Sending HVC involves paying gas fees. If Hivecoin were based on the Ethereum network, sending 10 HVC would cost $4.16. However, because Hivecoin is built on the Solana Network, the cost of sending 10 HVC is just $0.00003, which is a minuscule amount by comparison.

SOL can be purchased from a wallet like Solflare, Trust, or Exodus and then sent to your Markethive Solana sub-wallet. Watch this video for a step-by-step guide on setting up and utilizing the Exodus wallet to purchase SOL. To begin building your SOL reserves, leverage Solana's numerous faucets, which offer free SOL in exchange for participation. As detailed in this article, you can also take advantage of airdrops through Trojan On Solana. 

Markethive originated from modest roots without the backing of influential investors. Instead, it was created by the people and for the people, forming a collaborative environment that empowers entrepreneurs. The true beneficiaries of this system are its grassroots community, who will collectively reap the rewards and share in the prosperity and abundance that permeates every level of humanity. 

Keep updated on the advancements of Markethive as we implement our innovative new system—a secure Divine fortress impervious to malevolent forces. Join us for the weekly meetings held every Sunday at 8 a.m. Mountain Time. You can access the meeting via the invitation link in the Markethive calendar.

This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Jump Crypto Promulgate Plans to Develop a New Validator Client for Solana

The Solana network has been haunted by outages and slowdowns this year, especially during periods of congestion due to high demand. Still, the Solana Foundation is now trying to revamp the network to make it more stable, with a new open-source validator client to be developed by Jump Crypto.

Creating a new validator client for Solana is long overdue, as the protocol is now out of favor with users due to the attacks and outages it has experienced recently. Jump Crypto's joint venture is being conducted in partnership with the Solana Foundation. Both entities are working to reposition Solana as one of the fastest and most resilient smart contract networks.

The new development is expected to improve the accuracy with which Solana receives blocks and makes the network more resistant to attacks. The new features are designed to provide greater security to Phantom Wallet. It gives users control over reporting spam, which helps block contract addresses and domains. Investors can likewise earn SOL tokens as "rent" by reporting spam NFTs. Given the high risks involved with cryptocurrencies, users should exercise caution when transacting with third-party websites.

The process of building the new validator client will be overseen by Jump Trading's Chief Scientific Officer, Kevin Bowers, who leads a proven team of scientists and engineers developing complex algorithms, software, and Trading systems in the hardware and network space.

The move is significant because Jump Crypto, the Chicago-based subsidiary of Jump Trading, is a major player in the cryptocurrency world with substantial investments across the industry, including some Solana-related projects. Validators play a vital role in proof-of-stake blockchains like Solana by confirming the legitimacy of transactions sent to the chain. Anyone can act as a validator, provided they hold the desired amount of Solana's native currency, SOL, and transact in a way that benefits the network.

Image Source: Jump Crypto

Many Solana validators, including Coinbase Cloud and Jump Crypto itself, also offer "staking" services – allowing smaller users to add their own SOL to the validator pool and receive a portion of the rewards validators receive for providing their services. In response to questions about the relationship between new Validator clients and existing clients, a Solana spokesperson provided the following statement:

“In plain language, Solana Labs has an engineering team that is solely focused on building what has been the only software in the world that is capable of running the Solana network. Now there will be a second entire initiative that will be able to coexist and run the Solana network as well.”

In announcing the new validator client, Jump Crypto said the project would help accelerate Solana adoption, drive further technical improvements, and increase its network's decentralization.

Jump Crypto's assertion that its new project will improve Solana's technical performance will likely prove true, given the company's profound reputation for innovation. His contribution is also likely to be welcomed as the network suffered a series of embarrassing crashes and outages earlier this year.

However, the company's claim that its Validator client will increase decentralization may be causing a stir in some circles. That's because Jump Crypto has invested heavily in Solana and has made several rescues; most notably, it spent $320 million to rescue Solana-related projects from catastrophic hacks. Meanwhile, Solana's founders and executives appear to be working closely at Jump Crypto and its parent company.

Solana's close ties to the Chicago-based trading giant could irritate critics who argue Solana lacks the decentralization of Bitcoin or its rival Ethereum.

“Through Jump’s decades of work in solving some of the most complex networking challenges across traditional financial markets, we have seen firsthand the impact that improving a network’s speed and efficiency can have on an entire financial system,” said Jump Crypto executive and former UC Berkeley researcher Kevin Bowers, who leads the Validator project.

But for now, the infusion of technical know-how from Jump Crypto and the potential of the new validator client to bring more people into the network should prove to be an overall boon for Solana. This will outweigh the criticism of the project's governance structure.