Solana (Code: SOL) and Ethereum (Crypto: ETH) are two of the largest and most popular cryptocurrencies among casual investors and professionals alike. However, there are significant differences in the stories surrounding each of these currencies.
While that doesn’t necessarily guarantee that it will actually perform differently over the long term, it’s still helpful to understand what full-time investors are saying and why. Let’s take a look at each one and analyze why emotions are the way they are so you can more easily distinguish chatter from valuable information.
Solana’s price has soared 170% in the past 12 months, and it should come as no surprise to anyone that crypto investors are becoming incredibly bullish about the future of this coin.
On January 19th, the coin reached an all-time high of nearly $296, which equates to a market cap of $140 billion. But even that number puts a damper on the emerging market the investor community is expressing about its potential to become a hub for artificial intelligence coins, meme coins, decentralized finance, art instantiated as non-fungible tokens, and other projects. It doesn’t quite capture the feeling of elation. Even the next president and his wife have issued official meme coins in Solana, and it’s almost certain that more celebrities will put their namesakes on coins.
Additionally, the Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to decide whether to approve the Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) by March of this year. Multiple potential issuers have already filed paperwork, and the likelihood of approval and its potential remains uncertain following the election of what crypto investors perceive as a crypto-friendly administration in the US. There is widespread optimism about the (assumed) beneficial impact on prices.
Still, there are many areas of confusion that potential buyers should be aware of, which are also expressed among Solana enthusiasts.
Newly released coins are often assumed to be outright scams until proven otherwise. And building the network’s throughput capacity, as evidenced by network congestion on January 19th that left people unable to complete transactions and, in many cases, even check their account balances. There is still much work to be done.
Unlike Solana, the general sentiment surrounding Ethereum is one of uncertainty, hesitation, and in some cases, outright pessimism.
In the past 12 months, the price of this coin has increased by 28%. This means it outpaced the stock market’s gain of about 24% over the same period. Still, investors were left feeling like they missed out on Solana’s impressive gains. Despite the approval of an Ethereum ETF last year, there has been a lack of consistent capital inflows to the chain.
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