Solana (SOL) Makes Historic Recovery, Eyes USDT Flippening

Solana (SOL), the much-touted “Ethereum killer,” is again in the spotlight. After dominating the 2020-21 crypto bull market, the digital asset saw its value plummet after FTX's spectacular collapse

Solana (SOL) price action has seen a historic recovery, rising to a new all-time high (ATH) of $262 after three years of turbulent price action. At one point during the FTX exchange collapse and the ensuing crypto bear market, the token had fallen as low as $8.

Solana Makes Historic Recovery, Eyes USDT Flippening

Solana (SOL), the widely recognized “Ethereum killer,” is once again in the spotlight. After dominating the 2020-21 crypto bull market, the digital asset saw its value plummet following FTX’s spectacular collapse, spearheaded by Sam Bankman-Fried. However, over the last two years, SOL has staged an impressive comeback.

At the time of writing, SOL is ranked as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency, boasting a market cap of over $123 billion. The layer-1 blockchain is now just $8 billion away from overtaking stablecoin Tether (USDT), which has a market cap of $130 billion.

Interestingly, SOL only needs a further 10% price appreciation to decisively overtake USDT’s market cap and become the third-largest digital asset by market cap, trailing only Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as the third-largest cryptocurrency.

Considering the token’s recent price trajectory, it wouldn’t be surprising to see SOL surging past the leading stablecoin’s market cap before the year ends. In the last three weeks alone, the token has experienced a remarkable 75% surge, rising from $148 on November 4 to $259 at the time of writing.

While the broader crypto market has gained momentum following the victory of pro-crypto Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump, attributing SOL’s rise entirely to this would be oversimplifying the narrative.

Memecoin Frenzy, Increased Network Activity, ETF Potential Helped SOL

Several factors have contributed to SOL’s impressive turnaround and increased network adoption. One of the most prominent is the ongoing memecoin frenzy, which has become a dominant narrative in the crypto market.

Memecoins — especially those built on the Solana blockchain — have emerged as the crypto market’s top narrative over the last year. In October alone, the total market cap of Solana-based memecoins crossed $10 billion.

This memecoin craze has also resulted in increased network activity for Solana. Between September and October, Solana saw a 42% month-over-month (MoM) increase in active addresses, which amounted to approximately 123 million.

Solana has also seen increased decentralized finance (DeFi) activity throughout the year, in addition to the memecoin narrative. According to DefiLlama data, Solana has the world’s second-largest DeFi ecosystem, with a total value locked (TVL) of $9.265 billion.

Moreover, there are promising prospects for a Solana-based exchange-traded fund (ETF). According to a recent report, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is actively discussing the potential launch of a new spot Solana ETF with several asset managers.

Although SOL’s achievement of a new ATH is noteworthy, experts believe the token still has potential for significant growth. At the time of writing, SOL trades at $259, up 6.2% over the past 24 hours.