The surge in Solana’s network activity was primarily driven by rising meme coin activity.
BNB and SOL have been swapping places of late, with SOL surging and BNB seeing a 5% drop in value over the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Solana Surging
The latest milestone comes as Solana continues its impressive run. The network also saw a record jump in DEX daily volume figures, outpacing even Ethereum and a drastic increase in meme coin activity. The cryptocurrency ecosystem has registered impressive performances since the beginning of 2024, with Bitcoin setting a new all-time high of $73,000. However, the markets have witnessed a correction over the past few days, bringing prices down across assets.
However, SOL has defied this trend and is thriving despite the market-wide correction. This has seen the asset flip BNB to become the 4th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Solana’s impressive performance also coincides with a 5% decline in BNB’s market cap.
“JUST IN: Solana flips #BNB, becoming the 4th largest cryptocurrency in the world by market value.”
Solana Current Price
Since flipping BNB, Solana has continued its impressive performance, crossing the $200 price level. Currently, SOL is trading at $202 and has registered an increase of 7.61% over the past 24 hours. While SOL is still some way off its all-time high of $260, its recent performances have made the community optimistic that SOL could set a new all-time high.
However, other cryptocurrencies have registered a notable drop, including BNB, which registered a drop of 5%. However, it has registered a marginal recovery, up by 1.69%. The ongoing price correction has seen nearly all cryptocurrencies register a marked drop. Bitcoin, after setting an all-time high on the 14th of March, dropped to as low as $65,000 and is currently trading at $68,420.
Solana Network Activity Surpasses Ethereum
Solana network activity also surpassed Ethereum over the weekend as the mad rush for Solana-based meme coins continued, leading to the network struggling to keep up. Solana’s trading volume reached $3.52 billion on the 16th of March, beating Ethereum’s by a staggering $1.1 billion, according to data from DeFiLlama.
However, Solana’s network struggled to keep up with the surge in activity, with users complaining about frequent failed transactions. According to Solana Validator Data, Solana’s ping time was running between 20 and 40 seconds at 8 PM UTC on the 16th of March, leading to nearly 50% of transactions failing.
The surge in Solana’s network activity was primarily driven by surging meme coin activity. On the 14th of March, a meme coin called the Book of Meme (BOME) surged from near-zero to a market capitalization of nearly $1.5 billion in a matter of hours. One presale participant was able to turn $72,000 to $30.2 million in just 3 days during BOME’s incredible rally. Following the rally, the user sold 190 million BOME for $3.66 million, and still held 1.24 billion BOME, valued at $26.57 million.
“sundayfunday.sol turned $72K into $30.2M in just 3 days on $BOME! sundayfunday.sol is the largest $BOME pre-sale participant, spending 421 $SOL($72K) to participate in the pre-sale of $BOME and received 1.43B $BOME($30.6M currently).”
$NAP, another meme coin that garnered significant attention from traders, saw its market cap surge from $20 million to $330 million in less than 18 hours.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
