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"Solana is facing one of its most confusing moments yet. Despite spot ETF inflows, massive upgrades like Alpenglow and Firedancer, and growing institutional adoption from BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Western Union, SOL’s price continues to lag behind Bitcoin and Ethereum. In this video, we break down exactly why the market seems to be ignoring some of Solana’s strongest fundamentals ever.
We’ll explore the real reasons for SOL’s underperformance — from the memecoin burnout to fierce competition from Sui and Base — and examine whether the upcoming catalysts could finally flip the momentum heading into 2025. If you hold SOL or are watching it closely, this is a breakdown you won’t want to miss."
~ Coin Bureau
Solana's price has been under significant pressure since early November 2025, dropping despite major positive news like the launch of spot Solana ETFs that saw an immediate flood of institutional demand. This puzzling underperformance is largely attributed to several powerful headwinds. The speculative frenzy around meme coins, which once drove network activity, has concluded, leading to a dramatic 93% plunge in network revenue from its peak. Competition is also heating up, with formidable rivals like Sui offering significantly higher throughput and a more efficient parallel processing model, and Base challenging Solana's dominance in the memecoin space. Furthermore, the network still faces reliability issues, with transaction failure rates fluctuating up to 45% during peak congestion. The initial institutional ETF momentum has since cooled, and the market is also bracing for significant sell pressure, particularly from the upcoming $1.6 billion distribution of the FTX estate's holdings.
However, the long-term fundamental tailwinds suggest a powerful shift towards a more mature, institutionally-focused ecosystem. The network is undergoing a fundamental transformation with two major technical upgrades: "Alpenlow," set to launch on testnet in December 2025, which aims to slash transaction finality times from 12 seconds to near-instant 100-150 milliseconds; and "Firedancer," an independent validator client designed to solve historical reliability weaknesses and achieve a throughput of over 1 million transactions per second. This is occurring alongside accelerating real-world adoption, with financial giants like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton leveraging Solana for the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) and Western Union planning to launch its US dollar stablecoin on the network. The massive growth in stablecoin supply, which more than doubled in Q1 2025, demonstrates its growing utility as a global low-cost settlement layer. While short-term challenges remain, these foundational developments are building a powerful base for the next phase of growth, with the market watching the upcoming Breakpoint conference as the ultimate test of Solana's ability to execute on its ambitious promises.
0:00 – Solana Price Paradox: Strong Fundamentals, Weak Performance
2:10 – ETF Inflows Surge While SOL Price Slides
4:17 – Memecoin Crash & Rising Competition Hit Solana
8:16 – Alpenglow & Firedancer Upgrades Spark Long-Term Optimism
13:51 – Solana’s 2026 Rally Depends on Execution & Institutional Adoption
Source - Coin Bureau YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtGvkAPowfk
Disclaimer: This video is provided for informational purposes only, and not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
