Solana Rallies by 12% to Overtake XRP as Fifth-Largest Crypto

TL;DR

• Solana has officially overtaken XRP as the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap after rallying 12% in the last 24 hours.

• The rally can be attributed to the recent meme coin mania on the Solana blockchain.

Solana’s Market Cap Hits $35 Billion

SOL, the native coin of the Solana ecosystem, has become the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap after overtaking Ripple’s XRP. This latest development comes after SOL rallied by 12% over the last 24 hours.

At press time, the price of SOL stands at $83, up by nearly 20% over the last seven days. This implies that SOL is trading at a 20-month high and continues to be one of the best performers amongst the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Year-to-date, SOL is up by more than 500%, outperforming BTC, ETH, BNB, and XRP in the process.

SOL’s rally can be attributed to the recent meme coin mania on the Solana blockchain and rising DeFi ecosystem. Earlier this year, the total value locked (TVL) by DeFi protocols on Solana topped $1 billion for the first time since FTX’s collapse in November 2022.

DeFi protocols on Solana continue to record excellent trading volumes, ahead of the other popular blockchains. The surging volumes by decentralized exchanges on Solana can be attributed to meme coins such as BONK. The dog-themed BONk meme coin has recorded massive growth in recent weeks and currently has a market cap of $1.2 billion.

With meme coins on the Solana blockchain attracting attention from investors, SOL is gaining more value as investors purchase the coin before converting them to the meme coin of their choice.

BTC, Others Rebound

The broader cryptocurrency market is performing well after the market retracement experienced over the weekend. Bitcoin, the world’s leading cryptocurrency by market cap, is up by more than 2% in the last 24 hours and is now trading above the $43,600 mark.

Avalanche’s AVAX continues its excellent performance and is now trading at $44, up by 10% in the last 24 hours. Injective’s INJ token set a new all-time high of $43.21 a few hours ago, adding more than 5% to its value in the process. Thanks to the market recovery, the total cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.63 trillion.