Petty Transactions Gaining Momentum on Solana
A practice is considered mainstream when even a common individual is able to bring it into routine. Cryptocurrency, as a whole, is still struggling to go mainstream. However, Solana (SOL) is striking as being a convenient payments platform. A recent report notes the network is recording rising transaction activity.
Galaxy Research’s Insights
Galaxy Research, the research arm of Galaxy Digital, posted an image presenting petty transactions that are gaining momentum. 2/3rd transactions in USDC, the native cryptocurrency of Circle, on Solana are below $100, while the rest of the transactions are between $1-$10, defying Ethereum (ETH) in this context. ETH largely remains home to transactions above $10K. This shows the growing popularity of Solana among low-income groups of the crypto community.
Solana’s Major Partnerships
The crypto asset recently landed partnerships with major corporations, Shopify and Visa. The former recently integrated Solana Pay on the platform this August. Meanwhile, the latter is using the blockchain platform for USDC settlements. Shopify has over 2 Million daily active users (DAUs) while Visa holds a crowd of nearly a Billion. There isn’t data available regarding the number of Visa users holding crypto. However, news agency CNBC reported last January that crypto-linked card activity surpassed $2 Billion. Suffice to say, the company has a contribution somewhere in this landscape.
Solana’s Challenges and Potential Growth
The Solana ecosystem’s growth has been hampered by network outages in the past. Anatoly Yakovenko, Solana co-founder, “cursed” low-cost transactions for being the primary cause behind the outages. Last year alone, the platform experienced 14 outages with the longest shutdown lasting over 18 hours. However, positive investors’ sentiment adds to the potential growth of the network.
Fear in the Cryptosphere
Lark Davis, a financial analyst, called Solana a “comeback kid” in his recent video. Nonetheless, he criticized the crypto asset in December 2022 while speculating about the end of the ecosystem. Positive investors’ sentiment adds to potential growth of the network. However, CoinMarketCap’s (CMC) fear and greed indicator is leaning left, indicating brewing fear in the cryptosphere.
Market Trends
Altcoins are likely to follow market dominators Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum. Both the cryptocurrencies have fallen this week with other altcoins following the pattern. CMC data reflects Cardano (ADA), Toncoin (TON), IOTA (IOTA) and more among top gainers while Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Litecoin (LTC) and more among top losers.
Impact of FTX’s Asset Liquidation on SOL Price
Recent study on-chain insights provider Nansen speculated FTX’s asset liquidation by Galaxy Digital could hurt SOL price. Reason being the now bankrupt crypto exchange is currently the largest holder of the network’s native token. It may trigger a large-scale sell-off, further declining the coin’s value. Solana price has declined by over 2 percent today. However, momentum has returned with the asset changing hands at $22.92 at publication time. Additionally, it gained nearly 30 percent during the final days of September and has sustained $22 and $24 in October 2023, so far.
