Solana’s Wild Week: Trump Boosts SOL, MetaMask Expands Support, and CME Launches Futures

This past week was a rollercoaster for Solana ($SOL), with the blockchain token experiencing significant price action. Trump announced his forthcoming NFT, which led to some price action in various cryptocurrencies, including Solana.

The Solana ecosystem saw some moonshots as institutional developments started to pour in. One of the high points—and there were many—was the alliance between Solana and Discord. Altogether, the week had some ups and downs. But by the end of it, the Solana ecosystem is well intact, with the token’s price sitting at $137.

Solana’s Seesaw Week: Price Surges and Falls

High-profile announcements that send the market into overdrive largely dictate Solana’s price movements. A strategic reserve statement from Trump had a profound impact, causing the price of SOL to surge from $140 to $178 almost overnight. However, the euphoria was short-lived, with gains quickly wiped out a day later amid the renewed national security concerns that have dogged the former president as of late. So, was Solana a loser this week? Not necessarily. It was a stable ride. Despite the price rollercoaster, we were able to close out the week with only a 1% dip, ending the week with a market cap of $69.44 billion.

This week’s developments showcase Solana’s exposure to outside market forces. At the same time, they spotlight the blockchain’s continued viability, even as some of its biggest boosters have been forced to take a step back.

Solana vs. The Competition: Market Performance and Cross-Chain Dynamics

Regarding competition, Solana eclipsed Ethereum ($ETH), which registered a 12% decrease, and kept showing it was ahead in some domains. Solana’s decentralized app (dApp) revenue has stayed robust, with a daily take of $6.73 million. For something that’s often dismissed as being “unsustainable,” given the apparent over-reliance on revenue from so-called “Web3” apps, this is a pretty decent number and suggests that the Solana ecosystem as a whole is doing better than most. And by “most,” I mean even those apps in supposedly more sustainable ecosystems, like Ethereum.

Although Solana’s dApp revenue is quite impressive, it still faces fierce competition in terms of fees. TRON continues to lead in daily fees, bringing in $2.09 million, compared to Solana’s $1.49 million. Solana, however, seems to have retaken its crown in the NFT space, with a 27.3% user share. Despite the challenges it may face in some other areas, Solana appears to be a favorite platform for the NFT community, which is growing steadily.

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Solana is doing particularly well in generating money from decentralized apps. That is especially noteworthy because it shows something we always suspected: Solana can handle real, live applications. We never doubted Solana could support real, live decentralized applications, but now we know it can do so at significant scale and with significant market penetration. (To be fair, the NFT market is also growing, but you don’t have to tell me that.)

Moreover, this dApp revenue generation is happening despite the fact that Solana’s dApps currently serve their users with only a fraction of the basic functionality you might expect from, say, the dApps on Ethereum.

Solana Ecosystem Performance: Gains and Losses

Solana may have presented strength in the market, but not all of its assets shared the same fortune. The performances of many tokens in the Solana ecosystem formed a rather mixed picture. On the one hand, GRASS, a Solana-based token, was one of the biggest gainers, surging 38% over the week. Some other tokens like ATH (+6%) showed positive signs, but overall, the ecosystem looked to be on borrowed time because losses outweighed the gains. The biggest losers in the ecosystem were FTT (-26%), JTO (-16%), and RAY (-16%), which together were doubtless responsible for contributing to the 6% decline in the overall ecosystem market cap to $637 billion.

🚀 Week in Solana: The Big $SOL Seesaw on the Trump Train.

Trump pumps SOL 27%! CME launches futures March 17! MetaMask adds support! GRASS soars 38%!

Let’s unpack Solana’s rollercoaster week 🧵

1/6 pic.twitter.com/ApfU7dLhdJ

— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) March 5, 2025

Even so, the total value locked (TVL) in Solana’s DeFi ecosystem only decreased modestly by 2%, and managed to outperform both Ethereum and Bitcoin. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s TVL fell by 9% and Bitcoin’s fell by 10%. Solana maintained its spot as a key DeFi player and showed continued relevance, even as the appearance of a downturn kept many in the crypto world guessing.

Institutional Moves and Major Developments for Solana

The Solana network is seeing increased institutional engagement, and this is seen as a development that opens a new chapter for the network. On March 17, 2025, the CME Group, one of the largest derivatives exchanges, launched Solana futures contracts. This was a big deal and is expected to bring in a new wave of institutional interest to and exposure of the Solana network. And why wouldn’t it? Solana is a top 10 crypto by market cap. Can it get more relevant than that?

Another signal of Solana’s expanding adoption was that Trump’s strategic reserve announcement brought a lot of attention to the blockchain. Solana was notably added to the list of cryptocurrencies that make up the U.S. strategic reserve, underscoring its prominence on the global financial stage. Adding Solana to this reserve is being interpreted as a major endorsement that could result in a lot more institutional buy-in.

Also, one of the most widely used cryptocurrency wallets, MetaMask, has expressed that it will extend its support to Solana. This sort of accessibility is significant to Solana’s attempt at mainstream crypto adoption, as it effectively removes some of the hurdles that existed for potential users who couldn’t or didn’t want to use Solana’s native wallet.

Moreover, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) reported issuing the first Solana-referenced, exchange-traded funds (ETFs)—SOLZ and SOLT—providing institutional investors a fresh avenue to access the burgeoning Solana ecosystem.

Looking Ahead: What’s Next for Solana?

The week has been a whirlwind of activity for Solana, with price changes, ecosystem developments, and fresh institutional interest. If the blockchain had a stock price, it would have gotten a decent haircut on Friday morning, as reports surfaced, mostly in CoinDesk, that the Solana Foundation had laid off a number of its employees. In no way is this a sign of impending doom, given that Solana seems set to remain in the institutionally favored camp. Indeed, the long view with Solana is not just bright but blinding.

The launch of Solana futures and the inclusion in the U.S. strategic reserve are meant to attract even more institutional investors, who are seen as a path to mainstream blockchain legitimacy. Solana’s NFT revenue, its dApp revenue, and its fairly recent collection of half a dozen or so ETFs in the institutional toolbox also suggest that Solana is not just going to go away.

As Solana changes and keeps pace with the fast-advancing cryptocurrency world, it can almost be taken for granted that it will continue to hold down a pivotal spot in the decentralized finance ecosystem—at least, as new and not-so-new competitors keep flooding the space. Institutional backing and user adoption seen these last few days might elicit the question: Is Solana about to embark on an exciting new chapter?

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.