Solana's Network Headaches Persist, Leading to Upgrades and Price Concerns

Solana's (SOL) network congestion issues, exacerbated by meme coin popularity, have led to transaction failures and user frustration. Despite criticism, the Solana team has released an upgrade, Testnet v1.18.11, aimed at addressing congestion and potentially boosting SOL's price. Currently, SOL faces bearish sentiment but may recover in the coming days, with projections suggesting a rise to $150.98 by April 18. However, the impact on SOL's price remains dependent on market conditions and broader cryptocurrency trends.

Solana Network Congestion Persists, Prompting Upgrades to Address Transaction Failures

The Solana (SOL) blockchain, renowned for its high-performance capabilities, has encountered sustained network congestion, resulting in widespread transaction failures. While Solana has a history of sporadic outages, the recent surge in popularity of meme coins on the platform has exacerbated the situation, causing frustration among users.

The influx of transactions during periods of high network utilization has led to significant delays and dropped transactions, diminishing user experience. These issues have raised concerns within the industry, with some questioning Solana's ability to compete with established protocols such as Ethereum (ETH).

In response to the challenges, the Solana development team has embarked on a mission to implement critical upgrades aimed at mitigating the congestion issues. On April 12, Anza, a reputable Solana-focused devshop, announced the release of a provisional fix known as Testnet v1.18.11. The fix was deployed on the devnet, with recommendations for its implementation on the testnet as well.

This proposed solution is expected to address the network congestion faced by the chain and is anticipated to alleviate the problem once deployed on the mainnet.

Potential Impact on SOL's Price

The potential deployment of the upgrade on the mainnet is likely to have a positive impact on the price of SOL. Network outages can undermine confidence in a blockchain protocol, leading to diminished demand for its native token.

However, it is important to note that the recent congestion has not significantly impacted Solana's price, as the token has largely traded in correlation with the broader bullish sentiment prevailing in the cryptocurrency market.

Apart from the favorable market conditions, SOL has benefited from several factors, including the launch of meme coins on the platform, increased activity on decentralized exchanges (DEX), and the demand for its Saga smartphone.

Despite the congestion issues, SOL has maintained its bullish momentum, with attempts to establish new record highs. The token briefly surpassed $200 at one point and has registered an impressive 450% increase in value over the past year.

Solana's AI Price Prediction

Current market sentiment suggests a bearish outlook for Solana, aligning with the broader market trend. To gain insights into SOL's future price prospects, Finbold consulted the CoinCodex platform, which employs machine learning algorithms for analysis.

According to CoinCodex, SOL continues to attract bullish sentiment and is likely to reclaim key resistance levels in the near future. Specifically, the tool predicts that SOL will trade at $150.98 by April 18.

For the monthly projection, the tool anticipates SOL to reach $171.28 by May 13, representing a 20% increase from its current valuation.

Solana Historical Price Action

At the time of writing, SOL was trading at $142, having experienced a decline of over 12% in the past 24 hours and nearly 20% on a weekly basis.

Apart from the network upgrade, factors such as market sentiment and broader cryptocurrency industry trends will influence SOL's price performance going forward.