The Solana network has been making waves under the hood despite price stagnancy in Q3 2024.
Several projects on the network secured over $170 million between July and September.
Its tokenized treasury market also saw a massive boom amid institutional investment.
There is however a slowdown in on-chain activity.
If the bulls can prevent a break below $133, Solana should be ready to jump towards $200.
Solana had an impressive third quarter in 2024. Within the three months of the quarter, several projects on its infrastructure secured over $170 million in funding.
This impressive feat comes amid a general decline in Solana’s on-chain usage.
Let’s see why the major developments in its tokenized treasury market and increased institutional interest have positioned Solana as a major player in the blockchain space.
Will we see a $200 Solana soon?
As mentioned, Solana projects attracted $173 million in private funding. This Q3 funding rate stands as the highest amount raised since Q2 2022.
According to the recent “State of Solana: Breakpoint Edition” report, 29 projects received funding during the quarter.
This shows that confidence in the ecosystem is returning bit by bit.
Millions raised in Q3.
Interestingly, September was especially strong and contributed a massive $103 million to the quarterly total.
The impressive feat marks the largest monthly investment in Solana since June 2022.
Another standout area of growth for Solana is that of its tokenized treasury market. This sector had its total value skyrocket to $123 million—more than twice its original value—in just 30 days.
A major part of this increase came from a $50 million influx of USDC which was bridged from Ethereum in late September.
Solana ranks third
Despite this growth, however, Solana still trails Ethereum ($1.6 billion) and Stellar ($422 million) in the tokenized treasury market.
Ethereum and Stellar’s lead hasn’t stopped institutional investors though.
The blockchain’s appeal to major players in the space has been a major factor in its success.
Recall that in late July, Investment management firm Hamilton Lane launched the first private credit fund on Solana.
Global asset manager Franklin Templeton with $1.7 trillion in assets under management also jumped into the loop.
The asset giant announced plans to launch a money market fund on the platform.
In essence, this move makes Franklin Templeton the first asset manager to issue securities on Solana—with a public SEC registration statement, of course.
But Solana isn’t done.
Digital asset securities firm Securitize also made a major announcement for Solana at the Breakpoint conference in September.
The company announced its support for the chain and how it plans to enable tokenized assets on its infrastructure.
Plus, BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUILD) now has over $522 million in assets.
Keep in mind that BUILD is partially reserved for Ondo Finance’s OUSG fund which expanded to Solana in 2023.
The news isn’t all positive though.
Despite the growing institutional interest, Solana’s on-chain activity has declined over the past six months.
Monthly transaction fees have dropped by 66% since their peak in March 2024. However these fees remain much higher than they were a year ago. According to the report, this shows a 1,900% increase.
Decline in on-chain activity
Solana's market share of transaction fees also grew significantly during this period.
By July, its market share had reached 25%. This stands as a stark contrast to the mere 1.5% it held before 2024.
Also in the past six months, Solana collected $260 million in transaction fees.
Once again it comes third behind Ethereum (with $752 million) and TRON (with $268 million).
It is also important to note that this rise in fees is more because of transaction volume rather than the high costs of individual transactions.
Solana’s average transaction fee sits at a mere $0.02.
Which is far below Ethereum’s at $3.58, Tron’s at $0.22 and even BNB Chain at $0.13.
DefiLlama data shows that as of early October, Solana’s TVL stood at $5.6 billion.
This marked a steady pump since January of this year. It also shows a great deal of resilience and an ability to attract liquidity despite the on-chain slowdown.
In addition to this growth in its ecosystem, $SOl has also pumped massively in price.
As of the time of writing, the cryptocurrency is trading at around $149.
$SOL in essence, is up by more than 15% in the last 30 days.
Solana in the charts
TradingView data also shows that the cryptocurrency is testing the lower trendline of its multi-month ascending trendline.
Its 25 and 9-day moving averages have also converged and might be on the verge of a golden cross formation.
If the bulls can prevent the cryptocurrency from making a new lower low below $133 from 3 October, $SOL should be set to explode upward towards the $200 mark.
Overall while Solana’s on-chain activity has dipped, most other metrics are doing very well.
As more projects secure funding and the ecosystem grows, Solana’s future remains as bright as ever.
Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information, but it will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.