Solana Price Prediction Hits $500 by 2029, Says Standard Chartered, but Ethereum May Outperform Until 2027

• Standard Chartered predicts Solana will reach $275 by end-2025 and $500 by 2029.
• The bank warns of short-term underperformance due to reliance on memecoin trading.
• Solana may lag Ethereum until 2027 as alternative sectors like DePIN take time to mature.

Standard Chartered has released a detailed Solana forecast, predicting the Solana price could reach $275 by the end of 2025 and rise to $500 by 2029. 

The report, published on May 27, 2025, was authored by Geoffrey Kendrick, who leads the bank’s digital assets research. At the time of the forecast, SOL was trading around $175.

Kendrick explained that Solana appears undervalued based on Standard Chartered’s market cap-to-GDP model. He stated that Solana currently trades “cheap” compared to its on-chain activity and protocol revenue. In contrast, BNB was labeled “rich” because of its ties to Binance’s centralized exchange. The bank defines blockchain GDP as the revenue produced by all applications and services operating on the network.

The Solana price prediction, while bullish in the long term, includes a cautious near-term view. Kendrick cited limited growth drivers beyond trading and memecoins, which currently dominate Solana’s use cases.

Related: Solana’s $593 Potential: Key Technical Indicators Point to Major Surge

Memecoin Dominance Impacts Solana Forecast in the Short Term

According to Kendrick, Solana’s ecosystem relies heavily on memecoin trading. He said that the network’s low fees and ability to handle many transactions per second have positioned it as the leading platform for these tokens. While this has validated the network’s speed and scalability, Kendrick added that memecoin trading is no longer expanding and may have already peaked.

The report warned that a decline in this activity, combined with Solana trading below its GDP potential, may limit its near-term performance. Kendrick noted that “declining usage and trading ‘cheap’ are not a good mix,” referring to the drop in network activity and the undervalued state of the token. Solana’s future growth depends on new sectors gaining traction, which, according to the report, could take several more years.

Financial applications, social platforms, and decentralized infrastructure projects are among the areas Solana may support in the future. However, Kendrick noted that these projects, most of which started during the 2021 decentralized finance expansion, are still maturing and have yet to generate significant on-chain revenue.

Ethereum Expected to Lead Over Solana in Coming Years

The Solana vs Ethereum analysis in the report highlights that Ethereum will likely outperform Solana through at least 2027. Kendrick projects that the ETH to SOL ratio could climb from 15 to 17 by the end of that period, reflecting Ethereum’s stronger position in terms of blockchain GDP and user adoption.

Kendrick emphasized that Solana may continue to trade below its GDP due to limited application usage beyond speculative trading. He added that the next few years will be important for evaluating whether Solana can expand into sectors with more sustained activity and revenue generation. The report does not dismiss long-term potential but places more weight on current performance indicators and the time needed for network diversification.

Standard Chartered Includes Broader Market Targets in Report

Alongside the Solana price prediction, the report also includes market forecasts for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other large-cap tokens. Kendrick expects Bitcoin to reach $200,000 by 2025 and $500,000 by 2028. His revised Ethereum forecast now targets $4,000 by the end of 2025.

Projections for other digital assets include BNB reaching $2,775 by 2028, XRP at $12.50, and Avalanche’s AVAX at $250 by 2029. The report also projects that stablecoin market capitalization could reach $2 trillion by 2028, driven by wider institutional usage and demand for on-chain settlement.

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All forecasts are presented with clear timelines and based on activity levels, adoption trends, and revenue projections within blockchain networks. Kendrick confirmed that neither he nor the crypto research team holds any digital assets, ensuring the analysis was not influenced by personal positions.

Standard Chartered’s Solana forecast is among the few long-range analyses provided by a traditional financial institution. It includes clear price expectations for SOL, comparisons with Ethereum and other networks, and detailed commentary on blockchain GDP, memecoin saturation, and upcoming sector opportunities.