The crypto market overcame macro headwinds to post gains, with Solana rising less than 1% this week.
TL;DR
- Solana is up < 1% to $125, TVL rises to $7 billion
- CME launches SOL futures trading
- Solana celebrates its fifth anniversary
- Ethereum overtakes Solana in the NFT race
- Pump.fun’s graduation rate sinks below 1%
Introduction
The crypto market overcame macro headwinds to post gains, with Solana rising less than 1% this week.
Solana celebrated a huge milestone on March 19 as it turned five. From humble beginnings, it somehow weathered the FTX collapse against all odds and rebounded to become the sixth-largest crypto asset by market cap, with nearly $1 trillion in DEX volume.
Take a bow Toly, Raj, and all the Solana builders and dreamers!
Speaking of wins, Solana futures trading debuted on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) on March 17, with Titan founder Chris Chung saying this marks a closer step to a SOL ETF approval.
Solana’s controversial SIMD-228 governance proposal passed with 61.4% approval, but the inflation-cutting measure fell short of the 66.67% majority needed.
In a setback, Solana withdrew its controversial ad after a backlash from the crypto community.
On that note, here is a recap of key Solana updates.
Solana Numbers the Last 7 Days
Source: CoinMarketCap
- Price: $125, down <1%
- Market cap: $63.89 billion
- DeFi TVL: $7.066 billion
- Daily active addresses: >3.6million
- 24H trading volume: $2.85 billion
Solana saw a modest increase in price this week, which is encouraging after the meltdown it had so far in Q1.
Its total value locked (TVL) grew 7% to surpass $7 billion, reflecting improved metrics. However, active addresses dropped to 3.6 million, continuing its decline since the November peak as meme coin interest continues to dwindle.
Source: Artemis
Solana’s DEX volume failed to turn the tide this week, falling 29.7% to $10.04 billion.
Source: DeFiLlama
- Solana's leading DEXs got the sharp end of the stick, with the flagship Raydium sliding 27%.
- Meanwhile, OpenBook boosted its DEX volume by 647%.
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Source: DeFiLlama
How Did Solana Stack Up Against Its Competitors?
The crypto market had a positive week. Solana gained 0.8%, briefly topping $135, while Bitcoin ranged between $80K and $85K. BNB is up 15%, while XRP closed in on 10% gains.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Solana's app revenue (24-hour) tumbled to $3.1 million but still maintains its lead over Ethereum and Tron.
Source: DeFiLlama
Solana Ecosystem the Last Week
Solana's ecosystem market cap and volume dropped 75% and 95%, respectively, due to Ethereum data exclusion. No need to panic.
Source: CoinMarketCap
- Most Solana ecosystem tokens are in the green, with Solana Swap (SOS) up 28%.
- Losses occurred but were minimal.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Top Gainers:
- Frax Share (FXS): +45.06%
- Solana Swap (SOS): +28.4%
- Helium (HNT): +22.93%
- Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL): +22.3%
- Convex Finance (CVX): +14.97%
Top Losers:
- Grass (GRASS): -10.73%
- Aave (AAVE): -4.64%
- Ethereum Name Service (ENS): -4.62%
- SwissBorg (BORG): -3%
- Olympus v2 (OHM): - 2.17%
Solana DeFi
- Solana's TVL fell 3% this week, outdoing Ethereum's 9.24% decline.
Source: DeFiLlama
- Solana's TVL share rose to 8.17%, widening its lead over Bitcoin in second.
- Ethereum's share dropped slightly to 51%.
Source: DeFiLlama
Solana Meme Coins
- Pump.fun’s graduation rate dropped below 1%, really driving home the deflation of its meme coin hype.
- Meanwhile, Solana’s established meme coins mostly trended upward, despite some dips.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Top Gainers:
- hehe (HEHE): +55.55%
- Gigachad (GIGA): +29.44%
- Popcat (POPCAT): +22.86%
- RETARDIO (RETARDIO): +17.68%
- Myro (MYRO): +17.6%
Top Losers:
- Mother Iggy (MOTHER): +22.18%
- FWOG (FWOG): -13.83%
- Smoking Chicken Fish (SCF): -8.51%
- Billy (BILLY): -4.34%
Solana DePIN
Source: DePIN Scan
- Solana's DePIN ecosystem rebounded, with most tokens posting double-digit gains.
- Grass (GRASS) was the exception, falling 10.7%.
NFTs
- Solana captured 22.6% of NFT users, losing ground to Ethereum, which holds 28.4%.
Source: NFT Pulse
Top 5 Solana News Stories
Solana Celebrates 5th Anniversary
Solana celebrated its fifth anniversary, highlighting a journey of iconic moments, from the post-FTX rebuild to a historic $293 all-time high in January.
Solana Futures Launch on CME
Solana futures debuted on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, advancing the path toward SOL ETFs.
Pump.fun Meme Coins Struggling
Pump.fun meme coins are failing at record rates, with the “graduation rate” staying below 1% for four consecutive weeks.
Inflation-Cutting SIMD-0228 Proposal Rejected
Solana’s SIMD-0228 proposal, aiming to reduce inflation, was rejected after failing to secure the required 66.67% approval, despite initially gaining strong support.
Solana Removes Controversial Ad
Solana deleted an ad from its X account after receiving widespread criticism for being "tone deaf" on gender identity issues and for the political messaging in the ad meant for the Solana Accelerate conference.
What You Can Do Now
- Watch Solana’s next move after its fifth anniversary.
- Keep track of whales and institutions as Solana futures trading debuts on CME.
- Monitor Pump.fun's waning meme coin interest.
- Keep an eye on governance proposals as SIMD-0228 fails.
- Track Solana’s marketing efforts and their impact on SOL’s price.
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