Solana Soars, Sparking Speculation: Can the ‘Ethereum Killer’ Live Up to the Hype?

• SOL’s YTD performance is an 809.50% increase after starting the year below $10.
• Solana’s TVL has been recovering, but Ethereum stays on top of other chains.
• SOL may hit $100 before the year ends if the accumulation of the token increases.

Solana (SOL), one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the market, is showing gains. At press time, the cryptocurrency was $91.25, after it gained 17.34% in the last seven days.

SOL’s rise this year has been tremendous considering that it was one of the casualties affected by the FTX collapse. With its recent run, many analysts believe that SOL could be a three-digit token before the year ends.

Both Projects Can Co-Exist

When the year started, SOL traded a little below $10. But an 809.50% increase, according to CoinMarketCap, on a Year-To-Date (YTD) basis brought back the notion that Solana could be the “Ethereum (ETH) killer.”

ETH has also had a good year, but it is nothing compared to SOL. This is because ETH has gained 94.03% since January 1. Recently, Coin Edition reported how Solana DEX volume surpassed that of Ethereum, implying a surge in network activity over the second-ranked blockchain per market value.

In November, crypto trader Jacob Canfield explained that Solana would dominate Ethereum like it did in 2019 and 2020. In defense of his opinion, Canfield said that there were exceptional projects built on the Solana blockchain that could propel its dominance. 

However, on December 2, Solana’s co-founder posted that Solana would not “kill” Ethereum, as was predicted in some corners. In his post, he pleaded with the Solana community not to bring up the narrative but to focus on building. 

Solana TVL Rises and Token Target $100

There is one area where Solana has found it hard to surpass Ethereum, and it’s in terms of its Total Value Locked (TVL). According to DeFiLlama, Ethereum’s TVL was $28.55 billion. Solana, on the other hand, had a TVL of $1.31 billion.

However, Solana’s TVL has experienced 166% growth in the last 30 days. This increase implies that market players’ trust in the protocol has increased. It is also a sign that Solana is getting more liquidity from these players, who are anticipating a good yield from the project.

Concerning the price action, the SOL/USD 4-hour chart showed that the token was overbought. This was confirmed by the Relative Strength Index (RSI), which was 84.56 on December 22. As a result, SOL dropped from $97.66 to $92.37.

Also, there is a chance that SOL may drop from the $90 mark if market participants decide to take profits. Additionally, the Bollinger Bands (BB) showed that SOL’s volatility had become extreme. So, if accumulation picks up soon, SOL may finally reach $100.