Solana’s Recovery and Integration with Shopify
Solana (SOL) is a cryptocurrency that powers the high-performance Solana protocol, a layer-1 smart-contract-enabled blockchain known for its fast transaction speeds and high throughput. On Wednesday, SOL showed a recovery in line with the broader market.
SOL’s price saw an increase of approximately 3.5% and was trading in the mid-$21s range. The price was hovering between its 100-day and 200-day Moving Averages. The recent weak US economic data contributed to the broader market’s boost, causing major coins to surge. Solana bulls are now focusing on retesting resistance-turned-support-turned-resistance around the $22.20 zone.
The integration of Solana Pay, a decentralized, open-source, peer-to-peer payments protocol built on the Solana blockchain by Solana Labs, with Shopify Inc is also contributing to the price increase. This integration now provides millions of US merchants with access to Solana Pay.
According to Josh Fried, Solana’s head of commerce, “Solana Pay on Shopify opens up millions of merchants to a more dynamic and efficient payment choice, while consumers get the convenience of increased utility of being able to pay for goods and services with digital dollar currencies from the vast network of merchants using Shopify.”
Price Prediction for Solana (SOL)
Despite Solana’s recent rally of around 10% from its weekly lows of $19, the cryptocurrency remains within the $13-$33 price range that it has been trading in for the past few months. Given its proximity to major moving averages and the absence of a clear trend, making accurate price predictions is challenging.
Depending on the direction of the broader market in the near term, Solana could either experience a further 40% decline back to its mid-June lows of around $13 or rally by another 50% to reach its yearly highs above $32.
The cryptocurrency market is currently influenced by optimism about potential spot Bitcoin ETF approvals and Ether futures ETF approvals, as well as pessimism regarding US regulatory trends and rising interest rates.
Since Solana was labeled as an unregistered security by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it remains susceptible to regulatory developments.
Exploring SOL’s Potential for Growth
While the medium-term outlook for Solana remains uncertain, its long-term potential appears strong. Despite hosting a growing ecosystem of decentralized applications with substantial usage, Solana’s current trade value locked (TVL) stands at around $1 billion, according to DeFi Llama.
TVL serves as a proxy for the dollar value of all cryptocurrencies locked in smart contracts on a blockchain or protocol. Previously, Solana’s TVL reached as high as $15 billion. As Solana’s blockchain gains more adoption through partnerships like the one with Shopify, there is potential for significant capital to flow back into its DeFi ecosystem, driving substantial upside for the token.
Solana’s market cap is currently around $8.7 billion. Given Bitcoin’s market cap of approximately $516 billion and Ethereum’s market cap of over $200 billion, a 10x rally to nearly $90 billion during the next bull market shouldn’t be ruled out.
Consideration of Solana (SOL) Alternatives
For investors in meme coins, diversification is wise due to the unpredictable nature of the market. An excellent alternative to Solana that meme coin investors might consider is a new coin introduced by Wall Street Memes, a prominent retail investing community on the internet.
With over 1 million followers across various social media channels, Wall Street Memes has expanded from “the king of stonks” (stocks) to venture into the realm of cryptocurrency with its meme coin token $WSM. The $WSM presale has achieved significant success, raising over $25 million and gaining support from numerous crypto industry influencers and analysts.
Investors have limited time to get involved, as the presale is set to conclude in under 36 days. This token has the potential to rival or even surpass the likes of Pepe Coin, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu.
