Gate.io Blog Solana (SOL) Soars Past $200 as Pantera Capital Bids Memecoin and DApp Activity Surge

Solana (SOL) Soars Past $200 as Pantera Capital Bids Memecoin and DApp Activity Surge

20 March 10:51

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![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1710902420rdzz.jpeg)
## [TL; DR]
<a href="/price/solana-sol" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Solana</a>’s DeFi platforms’ high trading volumes have been the key driver for SOL’s recent price surge.

Pantera Capital is planning to buy SOL tokens worth $250 million from FTX Estate.

SOL, currently trading at $200 may reach $621.51 by April .

**Keywords**: SOL token price, <a href="/how-to-buy/solana-sol" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">buy Solana</a> tokens, Solana DApps list, best Solana DEX, Solana <a href="/price-prediction" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">price prediction</a>, Solana memecoin projects, invest in SOL tokens, Solana blockchain Dapps, Solana DeFi platforms, SOL price chart, Solana ecosystem tokens, Solana cryptocurrency news, Solana network growth, SOL token trading, new Solana memecoins, Solana smart contracts, Solana blockchain analysis, future of <a href="/price/solana-sol" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Solana price</a>
## Introduction 
Although the 6 February Solana network outage created panic among SOL investors, confidence soon returned to the market as its price rebounded from the bearish momentum that started in January this year. There are several reasons for the price rise which include the increase in dApp activity on the network.

The aim of this article is to explore the factors that may have contributed to the [recent Solana crypto bullish trend](https://www.gate.io/blog_detail/3883/why-solana-sol-is-the-best-choice-in-a-bull-run "recent Solana crypto bullish trend"). Specifically, we will focus much on the activities of the Solana blockchain dApp activity and the effect of new Solana memecoins on SOL price.

Read also: [Solana's Economic Ecosystem: A Comprehensive Analysis](https://www.gate.io/learn/articles/solana-s-economic-ecosystem-a-comprehensive-analysis/2083 "Solana's Economic Ecosystem: A Comprehensive Analysis")
### Pantera Capital’s Investment Plan creates SOL Bullish Momentum
 Between 5 and 7 March Pantera Capital’s investment plans influenced the SOL token price to surge by 19.5% to reach $200. However, other factors like the memecoins performance, functional SPL tokens, and DApps activity might have contributed to the increase in SOL token trading volume [and Solana network growth](https://www.gate.io/learn/articles/a-deep-dive-on-solana-a-high-performance-blockchain-network/914 "and Solana network growth").
 
Basically, the spread of the <a href="/price/solana-sol" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Solana crypto</a> news about Pantera Capital’s intention to acquire SOL tokens worth about $250 million from the FTX estate pumped its price. The major aspect of the crypto news that created the hype was the price prediction that SOL would gain by 47% within two weeks to breach the $200 price mark.

Recent news: [Volatility in Solana’s GameStop Meme Coin: 70% Plummet Followed by Thursday Rebound](https://www.gate.io/blog_detail/3876/volatility-in-solana-s-gamestop-meme-coin-70-plummet-followed-by-thursday-rebound "Volatility in Solana’s GameStop Meme Coin: 70% Plummet Followed by Thursday Rebound")

Already, Pantera Capital, a crypto-focused asset manager, has launched a fundraising campaign to generate the required funds. The initiative, dubbed the Pantera Solana Fund, will give investors the chance to invest in SOL tokens. As per a recent Bloomberg article, the investors who pool their funds through Pantera Capital are likely to [buy Solana token](https://www.gate.io/how-to-buy/solana-sol "buy Solana token") at a 39% discount.

Nonetheless, there shall be a vesting period of up to four years. The reason for the long vesting period is to enable FTX liquidators, led by John J. Ray III, to release the SOL tokens to creditors at a low rate to avoid exerting much selling pressure on the token. All other things being equal, such a move ensures that the future of Solana prices remains bright.

Currently, the FTX estate has about 41.1 million SOL tokens, valued at about $5.4 billion. Also, based on the Solana blockchain analysis that amount roughly constitutes about 10% of the total supply of SOL tokens. However, one of the Pantera Solana Fund conditions is that an investor should contribute at least $25 million. 
### Solana DEX Activity Skyrockets amid Memecoin Rally: Exploring the Bullish Momentum
Since the amount of SOL tokens that Pantera may acquire through its fund constitutes only 10% of SOL supply, such a development may have limited influence on its price. This means that other factors might have been influencing the SOL token price.

Basically, factors like the hype about Solana SPL memecoins and dApp activity might have influenced its past and present price changes. We have a long Solana dApp list, composed of crypto projects like Jupiter, <a href="/price/helium-hnt" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Helium</a> and Raydium, whose activities have an impact on the [Solana crypto price](https://www.gate.io/learn/articles/whatissolana/43 "Solana crypto price").

For instance, the increase in the demand for crypto tokens of Solana DeFi platforms including Jupiter (JUP) and Raydium (RAY) and Magic Eden helped to push the value of SOL up.

For instance, on 6 March some Solana ecosystem tokens which were inspired by several celebrities including like Jeo Boden, Spooderman and Juses Crust recorded very high trading volumes.

Such high trading volumes and performance of Solana blockchain dApps led to a rise in the value of the SOL token. In fact, during that period the Solana DApps volume rose by over 311%, outperforming dApps on the <a href="/price/ethereum-eth" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Ethereum</a> blockchain. A post by [X user, Gumshoe](https://www.crypto-news-flash.com/solana-sol-surges-past-150-pantera-capital-bid-and-memecoin-activity-drive-rally/ "X user, Gumshoe"), summarizes the impact of the price surge of SOL and some new Solana memecoins on the crypto market.
![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/17109027171.jpeg)
Source: [x.com](https://www.crypto-news-flash.com/solana-sol-surges-past-150-pantera-capital-bid-and-memecoin-activity-drive-rally/ "x.com")

As the image shows, the values of SOL and other Solana smart contracts have been high during the first two and half months, this year. For example, between 5 and 7 March Helium Mobile (MOBILE) gained by about 14.5% while the price of Jito (JTO) rose by 15.5%. The next diagram indicates some Solana based crypto tokens.
![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/17109027482.jpeg)
Source: [x.com](https://twitter.com/0xGumshoe/status/1736868799846981850 "x.com")

There is no doubt that the hype about new Solana memecoins has contributed to the Solana ecosystem uptick. For example [BONK has been trending](https://www.gate.io/post/CQQDFjYMQkpAQgghGxAdA19cWxgEDhkO0O0O/status/5038282 "BONK has been trending") in the memecoin market since December 2023. It has managed to attract many people to [invest in the Solana ecosystem](https://www.gate.io/learn/articles/comprehensive-analysis-solana-s-economic-ecosystem/2039 "invest in the Solana ecosystem").

Read also: [Bonk Price Prediction & Forecast for 2024, 2025, 2030](https://www.gate.io/price-prediction/bonk-bonk "Bonk Price Prediction & Forecast for 2024, 2025, 2030")

However, the waning in the memecoin hype and airdrops has not affected the performance of Solana DeFi platforms. This points out that there are other drivers for the network’s outstanding performance. The surge in Solana trading volumes and the establishment of DeFi platforms, Solana memecoin projects and other dApps have increased the Solana network activity which has a bearing on the SOL price.

As an example, Solana smart contracts deposits which are measured in the Solana total value locked attained a 16-month high on 6 March. The increase in Solana blockchain dapps deposits are a result of high performances of several protocols, including Jito, BlazeStake, Jupiter, Drift MarginFi and Kamino.

Read also: [Solana Price Prediction as $12 Billion Trading Volume Sends SOL Below $170 – Time to Buy the Dip?](https://www.gate.io/post/CQQDFjYMQkpAQgghGxAdA19cWxgEDhkO0O0O/status/5032526 "Solana Price Prediction as $12 Billion Trading Volume Sends SOL Below $170 – Time to Buy the Dip?")

Between 5 and 7 March several Solana based decentralized exchanges posted high trading volumes. As an example, on 5 March Solana based decentralized exchanges (DEXs) attained a new daily high of $2.85 billion in trading volume. On that day, Jupiter, the best Solana DEX, had a 24-hour trading volume of $1,450, 102,962 while Orca had a trading volume of $837,495,350.
### Solana’s Current Price Performance and Short-term Price Prediction
At the time of writing [investors can buy Solana token ](https://www.gate.io/how-to-buy/solana-sol "investors can buy Solana token ")at $183.77 after it has lost 1.4% within the last 24 hours. Generally, though, SOL has gained by 26.7% within the last 7 days as the next graph indicates.
![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/17109030073.jpeg)
SOL Price Chart – [CoinGecko](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/solana "CoinGecko")

The SOL price chart above, indicates that its price has been steadily rising since the beginning of March. Despite its solid performance the token is still 28.6% below its all-time high of $259.96, attained on 6 November 2021.

In terms of Solana price prediction, [Changelly ](https://changelly.com/blog/solana-price-prediction/ "Changelly ")anticipates its price to reach $621.51 by April this year. However, CoinCodex forecasts that the price of SOL will fluctuate around $ 912.12 by the end of 2024.

Read also: [Solana Price Prediction as SOL Reaches Highest Level Since December 2021 – Can SOL Overtake Ethereum?](https://www.gate.io/post/CQQDFjYMQkpAQgghGxAdA19cWxgEDhkO0O0O/status/5038595 "Solana Price Prediction as SOL Reaches Highest Level Since December 2021 – Can SOL Overtake Ethereum?")
## Conclusion 
An increase in dApp activity on the Solana network has contributed to its solid price movement. Pantera Capital’s proposed acquisition of SOL tokens worth $250 million and the memecoin hype have also influenced the price of the Solana crypto to rise. In the meantime, some analysts have predicted that the SOL price may reach $ 912.12 by the end of the year. 
## FAQs about Solana
### Is Pantera Capital a hedge fund?
Pantera Capital is a hedge fund based in Menlo Park, California that specializes in digital assets that include cryptocurrencies. Established in 2013 it became the first crypto hedge fund in the United States.
### Who holds the most Solana?
The wallet 9WzDXwBbmkg8ZTbNMqUxvQRAyrZzDsGYdLVL9zYtAWWM holds the most SOL tokens as it has 11.1 million SOL. 
The other large SOL holders include the following wallets: 
7mhcgF1DVsj5iv4CxZDgp51H6MBBwqamsH1KnqXhSRc5 with 5.5 million SOL, 
FWznbcNXWQuHTawe9RxvQ2LdCENssh12dsznf4RiouN5 (5.2 million), 
FbGeZS8LiPCZiFpFwdUUeF2yxXtSsdfJoHTsVMvM8STh (4.5 Million), 
52C9T2T7JRojtxumYnYZhyUmrN7kqzvCLc4Ksvjk7TxD (4.3 million),
8BseXT9EtoEhBTKFFYkwTnjKSUZwhtmdKY2Jrj8j45Rt with 4.001 million.
### Who is behind SOL?
Solana Labs, founded by Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal in 2018 owns SOL?  SOL is a native cryptocurrency of the Solana, a blockchain designed to host decentralized applications.
What was the original name of Solana?
Solana, launched in 2018 was initially called Loom. The team later changed the name to Solana to avoid creating confusion with the Loom Network, a multichain Ethereum interoperability service provider which exists on the Ethereum blockchain.

<div class="blog-details-info">
<div>Author:** Mashell C.**, Gate.io Researcher
<div class="info-tips">\*This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
<div>\*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.
</div>

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Solana (SOL) Soars Past $200 as Pantera Capital Bids Memecoin and DApp Activity Surge

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