Solana is what some people refer to as an Ethereum killer. It’s a next generation smart contract platform that sacrifices some decentralization in exchange for ultra fast and low cost transactions.
There are tons of smart contract platforms that offer those features but one of the key factors that sets Solana apart from the competition is their integration with the crypto exchange FTX.
FTX built the decentralized derivatives exchange Serum on top of Solana, and FTX is also using Solana for stablecoin payments. Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s CEO, is also a big believer in the Solana blockchain and in January of this year he sent out an iconic Tweet. Quote,
I'll buy as much SOL as you have, right now, at $3. Sell me all you want. Then go F off.
Assuming that Sam actually did fill his SOL bags at the time of the tweet, he’s definitely doing well for himself now that Solana is trading close to $200. In fact this epic price run was enough for Solana to flip XRP and steal its number 6 spot in the crypto rankings.
Currently, Solana has a $56 billion market cap as compared to XRP’s $46 billion market cap.
In terms of adoption there are a lot of well-known Solana and FTX supporters, or as the Solana community calls them, Ambassadors. For example, Steph Curry, the point guard for the Golden State Warriors, has agreed to be a global Ambassador for the FTX brand. Tom Brady has also signed on to be a FTX ambassador, which is a pretty big deal. Arguably FTX’s most impressive marketing success so far though is getting the Miami Heat to rename their stadium as the FTX arena. Hopefully these marketing efforts pay off since what’s good for FTX is good for Solana, and vice versa.
While a vast majority of all NFTs are traded on Ethereum, a couple of Solana based projects are starting to attract attention. Aurory and Degenerate Ape Academy are two popular projects with the Degenerate Apes selling out all 10,000 characters in less than 10 minutes.
One thing to keep an eye on is FTX’s new NFT platform that they just launched on Solana. The platform will let creators build their own projects and the NFTs will be swappable across chains, from Solana to Ethereum.
Sam Bankman-Fried scooping Solana at $3 a coin was about the best investment anyone can ever hope to make. When he sent out his Tweet SOL was trading at $3.30. Today you’ll have to fork over about $175 if you want to get a token. That’s a gain of around 5,000% in 35 weeks! Where could Solana go from here? The price chart looks like a classic blow off top, and SOL has been going straight up for months, so a correction would be normal and healthy.
However, on a longer time frame there’s still tons of upside left. Some analysts have called for a $500 SOL by the end of year, however, if Solana keeps rising at its present rate it actually seems more likely that we could see a $1,000 + SOL at some point in the next six or eight months. What’s your Solana price prediction, where do you think SOL will be at the end of year?
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