Category: Osato Avan-Nomayo, DLNews
Compiled by: Felix, PANews
Solana has gained 35% since the Aug. 5 cryptocurrency flash crash that sent token prices tumbling across the market.
Its rebound was larger than that of Bitcoin and Ethereum, which rebounded 23% and 25% respectively during the same period.
Solana is up 45% since the beginning of the year, outperforming both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
However, unlike Bitcoin, Solana has yet to reach its peak price of $260 three years ago.
However, market observers say Solana is well positioned for a year-end rebound.
Here are the factors four experts believe will drive Solana to new all-time highs.
Arthur Hayes
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes is optimistic about Solana, at least in the context of a possible “altcoin season” — the crypto industry’s term for a surge in the prices of crypto tokens other than Bitcoin.
According to an Aug. 13 blog post, Hayes predicted that Solana’s price could rise to over $250, just $10 below its previous peak.
Here’s the catch. The price of SOL will only surge if Bitcoin and Ethereum break through $70,000 and $4,000 respectively.
However, Hayes believes that could happen when U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen releases a wave of liquidity.
When the top cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin and Ethereum) surge, the price of Solana will also surge.
Chris Burniske, co-founder of Placeholder
Chris Burniske, co-founder of New York-based crypto venture capital firm Placeholder, is even more bullish on Solana and predicts that it could hit $1,000.
Burniske even said in a recent tweet that SOL to $1,000 “might be conservative.”
Burniske conducted a poll on the X platform in July, asking his followers to choose their largest cryptocurrency holdings among BTC, ETH and SOL. Of the nearly 22,000 participants, more than a third chose SOL.
The investor interpreted this result as a sign that SOL is popular among crypto investors, as far as large-cap cryptocurrencies are concerned.
Large cryptocurrencies refer to BTC, ETH, Solana, BNB, etc., with valuations reaching hundreds of billions of dollars.
Ajay Dhingra, head of research at Unizen
While BTC and ETH have attracted interest from institutional investors with their respective ETFs passed this year, Solana has also attracted attention from large investors.
Ajay Dhingra, head of research at DeFi aggregator platform Unizen, pointed to strong interest from institutional investors as one reason for Solana’s stellar price performance this year.
Dhingra previously stated that the Solana ETF application submitted by VanEck illustrates Solana’s attractiveness to institutional investors.
In addition, in response to the strong expectations for the possible launch of the Solana ETF product, Pat Doyle, a blockchain researcher at Amberdata, also said: "Increased DEX activity, rising daily active users, and growing network fees, coupled with positive market sentiment, are driving SOL forward."
Keyrock's Athanasios Soutos
Athanasios Soutos, head of DeFi ecosystem at crypto market maker Keyrock, echoed Dhingra’s sentiments, but with his focus on retail investors.
Soutos said Solana’s status as the main network for Memecoin speculation shows that Solana is a gathering place for retail investors to speculate.
If this trend continues, and new upgrades go smoothly, Solana could grow to ETH’s current market cap of $400 billion.
According to Souto’s prediction, assuming Solana’s token supply remains at current levels, Solana’s price will reach $853.
Related reading: Solana’s true and false prosperity investigation: Robots account for 70% of transactions, and Meme data has declined severely