TL;DR
Many coins and tokens in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector are blowing up while their respective networks and projects see the value locked in them explode in growth. Solana has had both, as its Total Value Locked (TVL) and SOL’s price reached a new ATH this Thursday.
According to data from DefiLlama, the TVL of Solana ecosystem projects has surged to $465 million —a substantial increase from $300 million in early October.
It’s worth noting that Solana’s TVL of $465 million is a significant milestone. However, it still has room for expansion, considering the current TVL value is just a fraction of its all-time high in November 2021, when it peaked at approximately $10B.
As the graph above shows, Solana’s TVL plateaued throughout 2023, breaking the $300M barrier in July. In late October, the network’s TVL skyrocketed explosively, reaching $400 by early November.
This explosive growth can be attributed to several factors, including over $74 million in institutional investment inflows —with Coinbase being one of the net buyers of the crypto asset— and a surge in network activity as the top protocols hit positive monthly changes. Two of the largest growing categories in Solana are liquid staking and DEXs, as shown below.
Meanwhile, the SOL token has also seen tremendous price appreciation in the last few weeks. The coin went from $21 in mid-October to north of $45 this week —a 114.2% increase. However, despite being the most popular altcoin this year, the token remains 80% below its all-time high of nearly $260 from November 2021, which suggests there’s still room for growth in the next bull run.
Solana has had a tremendous performance in the 30 days despite the ongoing concern of FTX selling a large amount of FTX tokens. This suggests the community has moved beyond the FTX overhang and has gained over 300% this year. This goes back to the importance of communities in crypto ecosystems over a project’s fundamentals and market cycles.
