According to PANews, Deus X Capital has announced the launch of its decentralized finance (DeFi) venture, Solstice Labs. The company plans to release its first protocol on the Solana blockchain by early 2025, aiming to offer enhanced yield opportunities for all investors. The target is to manage funds exceeding $100 million in total value. Solstice Labs is led by Ben Nadareski, co-founder and CEO of Deus X Capital. The initiative aims to introduce institutional-grade DeFi infrastructure. Since its establishment in October last year, Deus X Capital has grown its assets to $1 billion.

According to PANews, Solana-based derivatives trading platform Drift has successfully raised $25 million in a Series B funding round. The investment was led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Blockchain Capital, Primitive Ventures, and Folius Ventures.

According to Foresight News, the Solana blockchain's liquidity staking token (LST) bbSOL has announced a new limited-time event where participants can achieve up to 20% annual percentage yield (APY). This announcement comes as bbSOL has surpassed a total value locked (TVL) of five million dollars within 24 hours of its launch and has doubled this amount within two weeks. The event aims to attract more participants to the bbSOL ecosystem by offering competitive returns on their staked assets. The rapid growth in TVL indicates strong interest and confidence in the bbSOL token among investors. This initiative is expected to further boost the token's adoption and usage within the Solana blockchain network. Participants in the event will have the opportunity to earn higher yields on their staked tokens, which could potentially lead to increased liquidity and stability for the bbSOL token. The event is designed to reward early adopters and incentivize more users to engage with the bbSOL platform. The success of bbSOL in achieving significant TVL milestones in a short period highlights the growing popularity of liquidity staking tokens within the cryptocurrency market. As more investors seek to maximize their returns through staking, initiatives like this limited-time event by bbSOL are likely to become more common. Overall, the announcement of this limited-time event by bbSOL reflects the ongoing efforts to enhance the attractiveness of liquidity staking tokens and drive further growth within the Solana blockchain ecosystem.

According to Odaily, Solana Mobile has officially revealed details about its next-generation Web3 smartphone, the Solana Seeker. Previously known as 'Chapter Two,' the device is scheduled for release in 2025 and promises several enhanced features. The Seeker has already garnered over 140,000 pre-orders, and the Solana mobile development community has actively embraced the device, creating numerous exclusive dApps and functionalities for it. Key features of the Seeker include an integrated self-custody Seed Vault wallet, the Solana Mobile dApp store, the Seeker Genesis Token (a soul-bound NFT), and upgraded hardware specifications. Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko stated that the Seeker aims to offer higher standards than the Saga at a more affordable price, positioning it as the most defining Web3 mobile device of the coming year.

According to BlockBeats, on September 18, Solana's official social media account announced the launch of ZK Compression on its mainnet. This new feature is expected to significantly reduce costs for developers by a factor of 1,000. The implementation of ZK Compression marks a significant advancement for the Solana network, aiming to enhance efficiency and cost-effectiveness for its developer community.

According to Cointelegraph, Solana's (SOL) price may experience further decline against Bitcoin (BTC), as analysts draw parallels to Ether's (ETH) recent slump against Bitcoin. Benjamin Cowen, CEO and founder of Into The Cryptoverse, highlighted this comparison in a Sept. 17 post, noting that SOL/BTC is mirroring ETH/BTC's behavior.Cowen's analysis follows Ether's price hitting a three-and-a-half-year low against Bitcoin, a level last seen in 2021. Other analysts, including pseudonymous trader Crypto hodler, foresee more downside for Solana, with technical analysis suggesting a potential drop below $100. Despite these concerns, some analysts anticipate a trend reversal. Popular analyst Atlas expressed optimism in a Sept. 16 post, predicting a reversal trend by the weekly close.Crypto analyst Patric H. also sees potential for Solana, noting a clear support area between $125 and $118 that has held during major market corrections. He considers this a buying area, with invalidation tight below $118. However, for a potential upside breakout, Solana would need to rise above $162, which remains a significant resistance level.Popular crypto trader Wagmisaurus remains optimistic about Solana's price as long as it holds the $120 support level. Despite the current challenges, Solana's price is still over 48% down from its all-time high of $260, recorded on Nov. 6, 2021.This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

According to BlockBeats, on September 17, The Graph Protocol, a Web3 data blockchain protocol, announced the launch of new tools and resources designed to improve how developers interact with Solana data. The foundational modules of The Graph Protocol now offer enhanced support for Solana, aiding developers in leveraging fast, reliable, and organized on-chain data to accelerate development processes. These new modules cover most of Solana's DeFi projects, including DEX, NFT, AMM, and lending protocols. They provide critical access points to Solana data, enabling developers to quickly access indexed data in key areas of the Solana ecosystem. The new modules utilize a new Codegen tool and GUI to simplify the developer experience (DevEx), allowing for the rapid and easy development of subgraphs locally or through GitHub Codespaces with all dependencies pre-installed. Subgraphs can now synchronize several orders of magnitude faster using the substream engine that supports graph nodes, reducing synchronization time from weeks to just a few hours. Developers can immediately access multiple subgraphs supported by Substreams, which are built and maintained by renowned teams and deployed on a decentralized network. The new, more detailed documentation and step-by-step guides enable developers to get started quickly and avoid unnecessary pitfalls. With substreams on Solana, all data can now be easily parsed.

According to PANews, Solana (SOL) experienced a brief decline below 130 USDT on September 16. The cryptocurrency is currently trading at 130.37 USDT, marking a 24-hour decrease of 5.35%.

According to Odaily, Solana-based mining project Ore has announced that over 11,000 OREv1 tokens, accounting for 55% of the total, have been upgraded to the new version of ORE. Holders of the remaining v1 tokens must complete the upgrade by November 2. After this date, the old OREv1 tokens will no longer be eligible for the upgrade. In related news, Ore recently announced the establishment of Regolith Labs and the completion of a $3 million seed funding round. The funding was led by Foundation Capital, with participation from Colosseum, Solana Ventures, B+J Studios, Dead King Society, and 3KVC.

According to Odaily, SevenX Ventures, in collaboration with Jito and Renzo, is organizing a VIP dinner for the Solana ecosystem. The event will feature founders from leading Solana projects and top-tier funds from Europe and the United States. The gathering aims to discuss future trends and potential innovations within the Solana ecosystem. Notable attendees include founders from Solana Foundation, AllianceDAO, Helius, Jupiter, Drift, Ethena, Wormhole, Bonk, Helium, Pyth Network, Orca, Maple Finance, Bonkbot, Huma, Sanctum, Debridge, Eclipse, Kamino, Zeta Market, Colosseum, Perena, Sonic, MagicBlock, Sphere, Squads, SOON, and Safe. Investors from prominent firms such as A16Z, Multicoin, Bankless, and Blockchain Capital will also be present.

According to BlockBeats, on September 14, Solana-based mining project Ore announced the establishment of Regolith Labs and the completion of a $3 million seed funding round. The funding was led by Foundation Capital, with participation from Colosseum, Solana Ventures, B+J Studios, Dead King Society, and 3KVC. Regolith Labs aims to accelerate the development of the ORE ecosystem. By introducing new proof-of-work mining primitives and a liquidity network on Solana, the initiative seeks to bring millions of new users into the cryptocurrency space.

According to Odaily, interoperability platform Wormhole has successfully integrated World ID into the Solana blockchain. This integration allows developers building on Solana to incorporate World ID into their applications and platforms. As a result, developers on Solana can now more easily create applications that prioritize real human users, thereby enhancing trust in the digital world.

According to BlockBeats, Solana Foundation Chair Lily Liu is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the TOKEN2049 event. The speech will take place on September 18 from 10:00 to 10:15 AM UTC+8 at the DWF Labs venue.

According to Odaily, Chaos Labs has announced the launch of its decentralized oracle protocol, Edge, which supports the Solana ecosystem's decentralized exchange (DEX) Jupiter. Over the past two months, Edge has facilitated $30 billion in trading volume on Jupiter. Edge comprises three main components: Price, Risk, and Proof. The Price component provides high-precision price data through Chaos Labs' advanced outlier and anomaly detection algorithms. The Risk component automatically adjusts real-time parameters on-chain based on current market conditions. The Proof component ensures secure on-chain transmission of custom data points, including reserve proofs via zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP). Since migrating to Edge as its primary oracle, Jupiter has experienced a 70% reduction in stale price events and an 80% decrease in update costs. This improvement is attributed to the payload efficiency of Edge's price reporting, which has increased the number of prices Jupiter can verify in a single transaction by five times.

According to BlockBeats, on September 13, blockchain-native market maker CKS Systems introduced Manifest, an on-chain order book based on Solana. Manifest enables liquidity providers to deploy Global Orders, allowing them to place unlimited orders in the market simultaneously using the same funds for multiple bids and offers. The platform also facilitates the easy listing of new token markets, avoids trading fees, and supports order surges. Manifest has also introduced a data structure called HyperTree. According to its white paper, HyperTree allows for more efficient key-value data storage on the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM). Its layered architecture enables formal verification of the core matching engine without compromising functionality. The primary contributors to Manifest are Maximilian Schneider, Britt Cyr, and John Kramer. Schneider is the founder of DEX Mango Markets, Cyr is the Chief Technology Officer of Web3 options platform Dual Finance, and Kramer is the Head of Trading at CKS Systems. Kramer stated that the collaboration among the three parties enhances liquidity for Solana and related platforms like Manifest.

According to Blockworks, Toronto-based holding company Cypherpunk Holdings has rebranded to Sol Strategies, shifting its investment focus to the Solana blockchain ecosystem. The company announced that it will now concentrate on staking Solana and investing in projects and infrastructure within the Solana ecosystem. This strategic pivot was unanimously approved by the company's board of directors during a shareholder meeting on July 30. Cypherpunk Holdings has been increasing its Solana exposure for several months, particularly since Leah Wald, the former CEO of Valkyrie, took over as CEO in early July. As of March 31, the company held no SOL tokens. However, by July 16, a week after Wald's appointment, Cypherpunk had acquired 63,000 SOL. By August 1, two days after finalizing its strategy shift, the company held 86,300 SOL, valued at approximately $11.6 million at current prices. The rebranding to Sol Strategies marks a significant move, as the company will now operate a Solana validator node through a third-party service provider. The company, which has been involved in the cryptocurrency space since 2018, is traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange and the OTC market. Wald emphasized that the strategy shift was not predetermined when she assumed the CEO role, but rather a logical step given Solana's high-growth potential. Wald explained that Sol Strategies aims to offer more than just passive exposure to Solana. Unlike traditional ETFs, which are passive spot funds, Sol Strategies will actively engage in staking and strategic investments within the Solana ecosystem. This approach aims to provide investors with regulated exposure to the price of SOL, staking rewards, validator revenue, and the success of Solana-based projects. In March 2024, Cypherpunk Holdings reported approximately $23 million in assets. Wald, who has been a board member since 2021, believes that Sol Strategies can differentiate itself from larger competitors by focusing on a specific niche within the regulated investment space. As the only publicly traded company in North America focused on the Solana ecosystem, Sol Strategies aims to provide exposure to Solana's growth and innovation ahead of the approval of Solana-specific ETFs in the US or Canada.

According to Odaily, Zodia Custody has announced a partnership with Solana staking market Marinade. This collaboration aims to provide institutional investors with access to Solana staking opportunities. Currently, Zodia Custody's staking services also support Ethereum, Polkadot, Cardano, and BNB.

According to BlockBeats, on September 12, monitoring by lookonchain revealed that Pump.fun's expense account sold 9,940 SOL tokens approximately 19 hours ago, valued at around $1.33 million. To date, Pump.fun has sold a total of 274,313 SOL tokens, amounting to approximately $42.93 million, with an average selling price of $156.5 per token. The total revenue generated by Pump.fun stands at 712,797 SOL tokens, which is roughly equivalent to $95.87 million.

According to Odaily, Solana-based DeFi project Carrot has announced the successful completion of a $600,000 pre-seed funding round. The investment was led by BOOGLE, DKS Ventures, and angel investors including Dead King Society and Retired Chad Dev. Carrot, which has been operational for two weeks, has already achieved a Total Value Locked (TVL) exceeding $2 million. The project aims to simplify the user experience in decentralized finance (DeFi).