The Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) cryptocurrency has been on a wild ride since launching in the spring of 2020. It traded for less than $1 per coin at first, soared to $259 in the crypto boom of 2021, then fell back below $10 in December 2022. More recently, Solana tagged along with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is 2024, matching the larger cryptocurrency’s moves with eerie precision most of the period. On the evening of December 18, one Solana coin was worth $202:

Solana worth data by YCharts

That’s all in the rearview mirror by now, and it’s period to look forward into 2025 and beyond. Is Solana a excellent buy, an overvalued sell, or a reasonably priced cryptocurrency you should hold if it’s already in your crypto holdings?

Solana’s rocky history

The steep worth swings in recent years had their reasons. When the FTX crypto-buying and selling service broke down in a spectacular fashion, it held a significant amount of Solana tokens that became entangled in the collapse. Investors quickly lost depend in Solana, and it didn’t assist that the scandal was unveiled in the middle of an worth rise crisis and a crypto winter.

It took period to rebuild that damaged investor depend, even though the cryptocurrency itself didn’t shatter the FTX platform. However, Solana provides valuable features that still inspired many app developers to use its in recent projects. The cryptocurrency supports intelligent contracts like Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), but can execute these contracts faster and with lower fees. That’s one way to recover from the winter of FTX-based distrust.

The developer profit reached a bullish tipping point about a year ago, resulting in dramatically higher deal volumes and usage fees. There was a brief slowdown over the summer, followed by another intense spike of Solana usage and a consistent boost to average daily deal counts.

In other words, people appear to have forgiven Solana for its unfortunate FTX connection and moved on to use the token in blockchain-based apps. It’s a popular back-complete for stablecoins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and its quick deal settlement makes Solana useful in everyday settlement systems. You may not have seen these blockchain tools in action yet, but they are quietly growing in popularity as consumers, businesses and regulators become more comfortable with cryptocurrencies.

The Solana assignment’s ambitions

Often seen as a so-called “Ethereum killer,” Solana can handle many projects based on intelligent contracts. The Solana Foundation sees the coin as an integral part of the oncoming Web3 imagination, where individuals hold more power over the internet encounter than social network operators.

Instead of “killing” the original intelligent contracts structure, Solana’s backers aspiration to triumph a significant portion of next-production app designs in fierce competition with Ethereum and others.

The surging usage statistics recommend that Solana is well on its way to a long-term achievement narrative. There is no shortage of high-act cryptocurrencies today, and even Ethereum has boosted its execution speed in recent years. Still, Solana’s platform offers a proven combination of speed, safety and a collaborative developer throng.

Final verdict: You may desire to buy Solana correct now

This cryptocurrency is here to remain. Solana has already built a robust user throng and a very large economy footprint. According to CoinMarketCap data, Solana is the sixth most valuable cryptocurrency today with a $99 billion economy cap. That’s comparable to household-name stocks such as coffee giant Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) or tobacco titan Altria (NYSE: MO). Not too shabby for a four-year-ancient assignment that already survived one massive worth meltdown.

Solana’s worth has doubled this year, trailing behind Bitcoin in recent weeks. The main rationale behind this lagging act is that investors are stepping away from risky high-growth assets these days. The artificial intelligence (AI) boom is cooling off and economic regulators are taking steps to avoid another worth rise-based panic.

These are real economy concerns, and current or prospective Solana investors should not ignore them. That said, the bearish attitudes shouldn’t last long and many crypto investors expect leading crypto names to keep rising in 2025. At the same period, web3 ideas look more relevant every day and Solana should advantage greatly if and when that simmering imagination transforms into a few killer apps.

Solana deserves your consideration these days, unless you’re convinced that cryptocurrencies are inherently and hopelessly worthless. But then you probably wouldn’t have read this far. So I recommend taking a closer look at Solana’s technical features and its role in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Those findings may inspire you to grab a couple of Solana tokens.

The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content associate offering budgetary information, analysis and commentary designed to assist people receive control of their budgetary lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

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