Ethereum Rival Solana Dethrones XRP As Fifth-Largest Crypto As SOL Reaches New 2023 High

In recent days, SOL has continued to soar in value and hit new yearly highs in light of Solana Saga smartphones selling like hotcakes amid a meme coin frenzy.

SOL Flips XRP

In the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market has witnessed a bullish revival. However, Solana has emerged as the biggest winner among the top cryptocurrencies. The Ethereum competitor continues to attract substantial investor interest and see a propulsive price surge. 

SOL posted double-digit gains on Wednesday, hitting $81.85 for the first time since May 2022. The token has gained 11.4% on the day and 42.2% over the last 30 days, with extraordinary growth of 570% since this time last year, according to data from CoinGecko.

Amid the strong bullish price action, SOL’s market cap has reached a 20-month high of $35 billion, snatching the coveted fifth spot from Ripple’s XRP.

The Solana Network Is Booming

Solana’s climb up the crypto ladder comes as funds giving big investors exposure to SOL last week received $10.6 million digital asset fund manager, CoinShares said on Monday.

Notably, the Solana blockchain has stabilized following a string of outages last year. The network has also distanced itself from Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange since its implosion, which had acquired roughly $1 billion worth of Solana-based tokens before it declared bankruptcy.

Moreover, after months of tepid sales since it hit the market on May 8, the Solana Saga phone is now fully sold out after traders scrambled to purchase the Android phone thanks to the ability to claim a free airdrop of the skyrocketing Solana-based meme coin BONK — which had become more valuable than the gadget itself.

Similarly, the total value locked (TVL) in the Solana network has surpassed the $1 billion level since November 2022, before the FTX collapse. The current TVL of $1.18 billion represents an over 90% growth compared to the past month and reflects an improvement in Solana’s non-fungible (NFT) market.