Layer-1 blockchain Solana is celebrating its fifth year since
its mainnet launch in 2020 — becoming one of the biggest chains by
transaction activity and one of few select cryptocurrencies
included in a proposed US digital asset stockpile.
Since the first Solana block was built on March 16, 2020, the
network has processed more than 408 billion transactions and nearly
$1 trillion worth of value on decentralized exchanges —
establishing itself as one of the industry’s leading layer-1
blockchains.
Source: Solana
Here are some of the Solana ecosystem’s most notable milestones
since it was launched by Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko and
Solana co-founder Raj Gokal to the public in 2020.
Solana was born just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit
While Solana’s origins can be traced back to late 2017 when
Yakovenko released a white paper outlining a timekeeping method for
blockchains called “Proof of History,” but Solana wasn’t launched
until March 2020 — right as the world started to enact emergency
measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The high-speed, low-cost layer 1 Solana blockchain launch was
assisted by crypto-focused venture capital firm Multicoin Capital,
leading a financing round
for Solana, which brought in roughly $20 million worth of
private token sales in July 2019.
Source: OKX
Additional funding poured in soon after, and within 20 months of
launching, Solana was hailed as a potential “Ethereum killer” as it
soared to a $77.8 billion
market cap at the peak of the 2020-2021 bull cycle.
Solana hit hard by 2022 bear market, FTX collapse — but bounced
back
The 2022 bear market, coupled with the catastrophic
collapse of
crypto exchange FTX, tanked Solana’s market cap to $3 billion —
a whopping 96% fall from its previous peak — by late 2022.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s former firm purchased around 58 million
Solana tokens — currently worth $7.4 billion — from Solana Labs and
the Solana Foundation and was “by far the most serious” layer 1
that FTX was helping scale, Fortune said in an
April 2022 report.
FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 11, 2022, and is
still in the process of unlocking hundreds of
millions of dollars worth of staked Solana tokens from FTX’s
wallets. Solana’s price fell to $8.30 on Dec. 29, 2022.
Despite the setback, 2023 marked the start of Solana's
impressive comeback, which saw its market cap rise nearly 50-fold
from $3 billion to over $140 billion by Jan. 19, 2025.
Memecoin craze takes Solana adoption to the next level
One of the biggest reasons behind Solana’s comeback was the
crypto memecoin craze that took place between late 2023 and 2024 —
a $100 billion market that Solana dominated.
Several Solana memecoins such as Bonk (BONK), Dogwifhat
(WIF), Fartcoin
(FARTCOIN) and Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) rose to multibillion-dollar
market caps in early 2024 — around the time Solana
memecoin
launchpad Pump.fun became one of the most popular crypto
platforms for memecoin lovers.
Pump.fun alone has raked in over $540 million in revenue
over the last 12 months and even surpassed
Ethereum over 24-hour intervals at some points.
Solana is home to many of the largest memecoins by market
cap. Source: CoinGecko
No Solana memecoin, however, drew more attention than the
Official Trump (TRUMP) token launched by now-US President Donald
Trump’s inner circle on Jan. 17 — which soared to a
$14.6 billion
market within two days before it came crashing down.
The TRUMP memecoin briefly pushed Solana decentralized finance
(DeFi) total value locked to $14.2 billion, trailing only Ethereum,
DefiLlama data shows.
The Solana blockchain has also become the third largest adopter
for stablecoins behind Ethereum and Tron.
Solana unveils the first major crypto phone
In May 2023, Solana released the first major crypto phone,
called “Solana Saga.”
Sales for the Android device with the built-in crypto wallet
started slow but skyrocketed after a 30 million BONK airdrop enticed memecoin
enthusiasts to make a purchase.
Solana also unveiled a newer, shinier Solana “Seeker”
smartphone last
September to better facilitate memecoin trading and accrue
token rewards.
While most reviewers say the Solana phones lack the technical
capabilities of an iPhone or Google Pixel, Solana has seen over
140,000 presales for the two products.
The Solana Seeker phone is currently priced at $500.
Hardware specifications of the Solana Seeker phone.
Source: Solana Mobile
Solana, however, has also been plagued with several network
outages over its five-year span — halting block production
for 20 hours
in some instances.
Solana validators have been forced to restart the network on
several occasions when network activity surged.
A new independent validator client called Firedancer is
scheduled to go live on Solana’s mainnet sometime in 2025 to
address Solana’s client diversity woes. It has been
touted as a
superior solution to “QUIC” — a Google-developed data transfer
protocol that has failed to process transactions on Solana
over a dozen times.
Solana set to be included in Trump’s Digital Asset
Stockpile
The Trump administration says it will include Solana in the
Digital Asset Stockpile, which it confirmed through an
executive order
on March 7. It is the youngest cryptocurrency on the list.
The Digital Asset Stockpile will initially use cryptocurrency
forfeited in government criminal cases.
Related: Solana proposal to cut inflation rate by up to
80% fails to pass
The US doesn’t appear to hold Solana, according to crypto
analytics firm Arkham Intelligence. However, the White House said
it would complete an audit of crypto asset holdings.
Trump initially announced that Solana would become a US reserve
asset on March 2.
Source: Donald
Trump
However, he later established a Bitcoin-only reserve and the
Digital Asset Stockpile, which looks like it will include Solana in
addition to Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP) and Cardano
(ADA).
Solana is currently priced at $128.17 — the sixth-largest
cryptocurrency with a market cap of $64.5 billion. Solana is down
56% from its all-time high as the broader market continues to
navigate through recession
fears and weakened market
sentiment of late.
Magazine: Comeback 2025: Is Ethereum poised to catch up
with Bitcoin and Solana?
...
Continue reading Solana’s 5th birthday: From
pandemic origins to US crypto stockpile
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Solana’s 5th birthday: From pandemic origins to US
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Grafico Azioni Solana (COIN:SOLUSD)
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