SOL, the Solana network token is now one of the top ten crypto-assets by market value, appreciation pulled by growing institutional interest and the boom in non-fungible tokens (NFT) and decentralized finance (DeFi), Coindesk reported.
At the time of this article’s writing, the token was quoted at US$ 129, and the market capitalization reached US$ 37.5 billion. As a result, SOL was the seventh-largest capitalization asset ahead of Dogecoin (DOGE) and Polkadot (DOT). In the past three months, there have been few moments of devaluation against bitcoin, the market’s largest drive.
Sources heard by Coindesk attribute the growth to the highest institutional demand for SOL in recent weeks. On Tuesday, Osprey Funds registered the Osprey Solana Trust with U.S. securities regulators in an attempt to give qualified investors access to the SOL token. There is also a perception that money flows to the platforms alternative to Ethereum, and Solana has benefited from this.
Solana debuts in NFT market
The debut in the NFT market also contributed to the change. Blockchain aimed at this market with the launch of Degenerate Ape Academy. In the first few minutes of the platform’s launch, 10.000 pictures of cartoon apes were sold. This drove up the value of the SOL token, as people needed to buy the cryptocurrency to buy monkeys. Investors were optimistic about the low transaction costs and speed.
Other issues, such as the debut of the Pyth Network real-time data feeder on the Solana blockchain, may have contributed to the token’s positive momentum.
According to Bill Noble, chief technical analyst at Token Metrics, heard by Coindesk. “If the market as a whole remains on the rise, the next targets are US$ 89 [already converted into support] and US$145”.
