Ethereum and Solana Surge Toward New Peaks: But Can The Rally Last?

Both Ethereum and Solana have seen solid gains over the past week—similarly to Bitcoin but outperforming other major assets like Avalanche and XRP. Week-on-week ETH grew by 15%, SOL by 6.6%, BTC by 9%, while XRP only managed 4.8% and AVAX remained relatively flat (up 0.3%).

Ethereum Upgrades, ETF Hopes, Fuel Fire

With the ETH price nearing USD 4k (AUD $6k), and Bitcoin breaking through all-time highs recently, the question is when the second largest crypto will follow suit.

Related: MicroStrategy Issues $700M in Convertible Notes to Fund Bitcoin

The first of two catalysts which could push Ethereum’s price up higher is the May deadline for a decision on Spot Ethereum ETFs.

This is something analysts give a fair chance—although questions remain around whether the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) believes Ethereum is sufficiently decentralised and doesn’t classify as a security. And SEC chair Gary Gensler doesn’t do much to put investors’ minds at ease here either.

And then there is the Ethereum Dencun upgrade, driven by the introduction of proto-danksharding from Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4844. The upgrade aims to revolutionise the network by enhancing ‘rollups’ through a new transaction type called ‘blobs’.

This advancement promises to significantly reduce transaction fees and increase efficiency for dApp developers by enabling quicker and more efficient transaction batching, particularly benefiting Layer 2 solutions like Optimism and Arbitrum.

More broadly, there are a number of other events still causing volatility in March:

Solana Sentiment Turns Bullish

Analyst at market intelligence platform Santiment said Solana is nearing a significant price milestone, potentially reaching USD $150 (AUD $226) for the first time since January 16, 2022. The fifth largest crypto is witnessing a cautiously optimistic sentiment among investors and traders.

The analysts say the prevailing mood is somewhat bullish, indicating a positive outlook on Solana’s (SOL) value and its potential for growth. However, the bullish sentiment is not seen as overwhelmingly strong to the point of inducing fear of missing out (FOMO), which could lead to an unsustainable bubble and subsequent sharp correction

Meanwhile, according to a Bloomberg report, Pantera Capital, a USD $5.2 billion (AUD $7.84 billion) crypto asset manager, is raising funds to purchase SOL tokens at a significant discount from the bankrupt FTX’s estate.

Through the Pantera Solana Fund, they aim to acquire up to USD $250 million (AUD $376 million) worth of SOL tokens, offering them to investors at 39% below the 30-day average price, or at USD $59.95 (AUD $90.39), with a vesting period of up to four years.

Related: CNA Weekly Roundup

This strategy enables FTX liquidators to release SOL tokens, potentially benefiting creditors without adversely affecting the token’s market price. The estate’s holding of 41.1 million SOL, approximately 10% of the total supply, is valued at USD $5.4 billion (AUD $8.14 billion).