Avalanche (AVAX) and NEAR Surge Ahead as Solana’s December Rally Leaves Room for More

• The high competition in the layer one (L1) blockchains amid the mass adoption of smart contracts has helped the respective coins break out in December.

• Solana has outperformed the top L1 coins despite the notable sell pressure emanating from the frequent FTX liquidation to repay the creditors.

The notable growth of the Ethereum (ETH) network since its inception has inspired more investors to diligently search for more promising smart contract-based blockchains like Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), and NEAR Protocol to diversify their crypto portfolios. Crypto investors who remained loyal to SOL since the calendar flipped in January have seen their portfolio gain around 1,000% against all odds.

Notably, SOL price has enjoyed a bullish December even higher than ETH. According to the latest market data, SOL price has rallied more than 78% in the past four weeks to trade around $100 on Thursday, whilst ETH has only registered 16% during the same period.

Interestingly, the Solana network has attracted more investors seeking to earn passively from its staking program, whereby more than 388 million SOL out of the 565 million in circulating supply has been staked. Worth noting that the Solana network has received tremendous support from the DeFi developers with about $1.3 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) and recently announced that it has sold out its Saga Mobile both in the United States and Europe.

Closer Look at AVAX Price Action and Market Outlook

After meticulous planning and notable developments, the Avalanche (AVAX) network has entered the top 10 most valuable digital assets by displacing Elon Musk-backed Dogecoin (DOGE). The Avalanche network has seen its TVL spike to about $914 million and its stablecoins market cap at around $1 billion.

However, the Avalanche network has been criticized for its unsustainable high transaction fees that scaled with the rise of its meme coin Coq Inu (COQ). According to the latest market data, AVAX price surged around 96% in December to trade at $41.

From a technical standpoint, AVAX price could experience another uptrend in the near term as the altcoin breakout is still in the early stages. The AVAX bullish outlook is bolstered by the weekly Relative Strength Index (RSI) which remains above the 70 level. Additionally, a third bullish uptrend from the Elliott wave principle has not yet happened.

NEAR Price Analysis and Growth Factors

The Near Protocol (NEAR) is another layer 1 ecosystem that making notable moves in the recent past. Earlier this month, the Near Protocol announced a strategic partnership with Michigan-based Information Data Systems Inc. to further strengthen the Bharat blockchain network into a vantage position amid the mass adoption of the web3 industry.

In November, Near Protocol collaborated with the Polygon (MATIC) team to deliver a zero-knowledge WASM dubbed zkWASM. Consequently, the NEAR Protocol has seen its TVL spike to more than $96 million.

With the notable network developments, NEAR Price has rallied more than 118 percent in the past four weeks to trade around $3.85 on Thursday. The medium-caped altcoin has a fully diluted valuation of about $4.5 billion and an average daily traded volume of around $412 million. From a technical perspective, the NEAR price has more uptrend in the near term before reaching a psychological resistance of around $7.2.