Solana has surpassed Bitcoin in growth since the beginning of the year and is second only to the regular cryptocurrency market leaders in terms of cryptocurrency market share

The rate of native blockchain token Solana (SOL) on March 18 reached its highest since December 2021, momentarily reaching $209+ on the Binance exchange when paired with the Tether USD (USDT) stablecoin.

The capitalization of SOL, according to CoinMarketCap, reached an all-time high of $89.4 billion. And that made the token the fourth largest crypto asset after bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and the USDT stablecoin. SOL’s previous capitalization high was $77.9 billion in November 2021.

Solana’s price has risen more than 100% since the beginning of the year. But the token is trading below its all-time high at $250, reached in November 2021 during the peak of the crypto market.

New Solana Records

On March 18, the SOL token overtook the BNB cryptocurrency from the Binance exchange in terms of capitalization, which had long been ranked fourth in the Coinmarketcap rankings.

Search queries for the word “Solana” reached the index of 100. And that is an absolute record in the five-year history of the cryptocurrency. The previous peak was recorded in early September 2021 – then the value of search activity was 84. Experts attribute the surge of interest in Solana to the SOL price exceeding the $200 mark.

Benjamin Stani, director of business development at Matrixport analytical company, linked the growth of SOL price to active trading of memcoins issued on the Solana blockchain.

Over the weekend, Solana surpassed Ethereum in trading volume due to increased interest in Solana-based memcoins. Trading volume on SOL reached $3.52 billion on March 16, according to data from DefiLlama. And that’s $1.1 billion more than the daily trading volume on Ethereum. However, the increase in activity has taken a toll on the network.

Our experts predict the coin to update the historic high, provided the rally in the cryptocurrency market continues. And expansion of the Solana blockchain application ecosystem.

Solana developers managed to get rid of associations with bankrupt FTX and Alameda. Our experts talk about the prospects of blockchain and its SOL token

The Solana eco systemic connection to the collapsed FTX exchange and the Alameda Research fund took a huge knock on its reputation. This is despite negative assessments from the community. As well as the departure of a number of projects to other blockchains and a decrease in the price of SOL token, the protocol itself managed to hold up. And new services are increasingly allowing to rid it of unwanted associations. The Solana network remains technically innovative. And it has seen an increase in activity, both in the number of developers participating in projects. Also by the amount of funds in the turnover of existing decentralized financial protocols.

The consolidation of the Solana community has made it possible to create a replacement for those ecosystem entities in which FTX or Alameda previously played a prominent role. For example, the decentralized exchange OpenBook succeeded Serum, a key liquidity provider for the ecosystem. Losing more than 96% of its value in 2022, the network’s native token Solana (SOL). Once again, judging by its capitalization growth, it looks attractive to investors.

Increasing liquidity in Solana

Record low transaction fees on the Solana network. This is one of the key factors contributing to its attractiveness for developers of DeFi- and NFT-platforms. As well as the expansion of these spheres in the cryptoindustry as a whole. In the case of Ethereum, even when using network scaling solutions such as Arbitrum or Optimism. Then almost any network interaction scenario will cost a few dollars per transaction. Which in itself is uncomfortable for the mass user and, as a result, slows down the spread of the technology.

It is possible to work comfortably with Solana platforms even at the lowest available liquidity, which is about $10 or less. Low network fees also matter for games and social networking applications. Which can run on the main Solana network without the need for any add-ons. Similar decentralized applications for Ethereum on Layer 2 blockchains are creating additional networks that meet the necessary requirements, such as Arbitrum’s Nova.

In February, the developers of the Helium Network protocol, with a market capitalization of more than $180 million, planned to move it to the Solana network at the end of March. But they later pushed it back to April, citing unpreparedness in the community. The postponement of the expected date had a negative impact on the price of the project’s native token (HNT), which plummeted more than 21% in the moment. However, if Helium’s transition to Solana does happen soon. The ecosystem will see an impressive influx of new liquidity. As well as additional activity from new community members.

The second significant recent event for the Solana ecosystem is the Grizzlython hackathon, the organizers of which have recently finished accepting applications. The contest has attracted 800 new projects, with up to $5 million in development funding. The success of even a small number of projects in this hackathon could lead to the emergence of innovative infrastructure products in the Solana ecosystem.

Price of SOL token

Despite the generally optimistic fundamental analysis. The technical indicators of the SOL price do not look bullish. The price of the coin failed several times to pass the resistance and consolidate above the level of $25. The asset is trading inside a symmetrical triangle pattern. And the next move could start with a rapid spurt after the price breaks above or below the triangle.

The closest level of support, which has stopped the price fall in 2023 more than once, is the $20 mark. More conservative and less risky purchases are possible at the next support level of $15-16. The lowest point from which we can predict an upward price movement in case of a new bear market or ecosystem problem. It could be the support level of $10, which on the daily timeframe also coincides with another indicator, Doji candle. Which indicates a change in the trend of the coin on January 1, 2023.

The situation on the chart of token in pair with BTC looks worse than in pair with dollar. The price has been in a distinct trend decline since January 15. For this chart the range of 0.00072-0.00073 BTC may be considered as a resistance area. The key area of purchases in case of a bearish scenario will be the range of 0.00064-0.00054 BTC. This also coincides with the value of the Doji candle indicator of the daily timeframe of January 1.

Weaknesses of Solana

A significant disadvantage of Solana is the excessive centralization of nodes for the sake of speed and network stoppages that have occurred in the past. Situations where developers shut down an entire blockchain are isolated and anomalous. Solana has had such cases more than once.

So far, no consensus has been reached on the way Bitcoin is represented on the Solana blockchain. Already, more than ten technically suitable tokens are competing for user liquidity. The previously used soBTC has been found to be out of business. And its exchange rate has long since decoupled from the Bitcoin price and is around the $1,000 per token mark. As a result, Solana’s financial protocols are almost completely devoid of liquidity pools paired with the main asset and flagship of the crypto sector. Even if the situation changes, the issue of the reliability of using BTC in Solana protocols will remain open.

Our experts note that competing blockchains with unique characteristics also continue to expand in the cryptosphere. The fast-growing Aptos, Sui and other blockchains could potentially replace Solana in the crypto market. Which use different programming languages from Solidity and similarly give users record-low fees and speed.

Trading volume on NFT marketplaces is approaching its peak. And news surrounding the largest collections keeps investors hype going

The NFT market is recovering from the disappointing end of 2022. According to a new report from the DappRadar platform, there was a sharp increase in both prices and the number of NFT units sold on marketplaces at the beginning of the year.

There were 9.2 million transactions in January, a 37% increase over December. This was the highest marketplace volume in six months. Trading volume in dollars also rose, reaching $946 million, up 38% from December. And it’s the highest since the market peaked at $1 billion last June.

Importantly, DappRadar excludes data from transactions falling under any suspicion of manipulation in its calculations. The most popular method is so-called “wash trading”. When owner from his own wallets makes fake sales of NFT, artificially inflating its price or imitating the appearance of excitement for a little-known project.

Most popular NFT collections

The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) collections remain the ” Blue Chip” of NFT market. And the Yuga Labs behind them retains its status as one of the most recognizable brands in the industry. In January, a new collection of NFT company products called Sewer Pass. Which serve as keys to the blockchain game Dookey Dash, accounted for 34.3% of all transactions in January’s marketplace. The passes were issued to owners of images from the BAYC and MAYC collections. And their daily turnover on the secondary market after the launch exceeded $27 million.

Other famous collections also had high-profile infomercials in January. Doodles creators acquired Emmy-nominated animation studio Golden Wolf. And PROOF, the company behind Moonbirds collection, contracted with Hollywood’s United Talent Agency to promote the brand outside of the Web 3.0 sphere in traditional advertising and TV shows. The average image price from Doodles was up 1.82% in January and Moonbirds was up 3.43%, according to NFT Price Floor.

Overall, collections in the top 10 by market capitalization survived the market downturn best. They also had the top 10 sales in January, according to a DappRadar report. They were also the first to recover from last year’s market decline. For example, the Bitwise Blue-Chip NFT Collections Index showed a 28.6% increase in prices from December. However, it is still nearly 65% lower than in January 2021.

Main NFT marketplaces

Marketplace sites oriented toward collectors are gradually wresting market share from those whose focus is primarily on traders and speculators. Blur, which seeks to minimize commissions for art creators. They accounted for 20% of the market for the third month in a row. In terms of turnover, the site is second only to OpenSea, with X2Y2 and Magic Eden in third and fourth place, respectively.

PFP-collections (NFT-collections with profile images) remain the most successful in terms of sales on the platforms. This is due to their high liquidity and hype in social networks. OpenSea remains the largest site in terms of trading volume, ($495 million in January). Platform received about $12.3 million of income from commissions from the trades and placement of NFT by their creators.

Our experts note that despite encouraging crypto market results. NFT platform Coinbase, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it is suspending new collections listings. However, company representatives stressed that this does not mean the closure of its platform.

Coinbase’s NFT platform was not one of the top six trading platforms. And its trading volume, according to Dune Analytics, is only $7.3 million for its entire existence, roughly equivalent to 7% of OpenSea’s January results.

Market trends

In January, sales increased at all significant blockchains. For example, NFT sales on the Ethereum blockchain jumped from nearly $558 million in December to more than $772 million in January. And on Solana – respectively, from $69.5 million to $86 million. The largest NFT collection on Solana blockchain, called “DeGods,” showed a 113% increase in trading volumes in January. This was despite the fact that at the end of December its authors announced plans to migrate to Polygon.

NFT sales on Polygon were up 157% from December, reaching 4.5 million units. This was greatly aided by the launch of Donald Trump’s NFT collection, which has seen sales of $12.1 million since its launch.
As well as popularity of NFT passes to the “Mocaverse” meta universes from Animoca Labs and The Sandbox. Polygon token (MATIC) also had a successful start to 2023, rising 72% to $1.23 since Jan. 1.

Lending platforms that allow you to borrow crypto assets against NFT are also showing growth. NFTfi hit record highs in January with $300 million in turnover, 4,399 loans and 907 active borrowers and lenders. According to Dune Analytics, NFTfi and BendDAO together account for about 70% of the NFT lending market.

Despite the skeptical sentiment of the past six months. NFT market is starting to come to life, although its trading volumes as a whole have clearly correlated with the rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Crypto-Upvotes experts conducted their analysis and told about prospects of NFT segment

Throughout 2022, application solutions with NFT have been actively developed in a variety of projects. The audience of the technology continues to grow at a tremendous rate due to the introduction of the technology by social media. This year, some tools related to NFT were implemented by Twitter (audience of about 400 million users), Reddit (audience of about 430 million users), Onlyfans (audience of about 175 million users).Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Youtube also announced their plans to implement NFT.

Based on these data, we can consider a long-term investment portfolio, taking into account the prospects for the development of NFT

We would suggest dividing the investment portfolio into two parts. The first would be a liquid backbone, the tokens of projects that provide infrastructure for NFT. Polygon blockchain turned out to be the most popular for application solutions. Therefore, as the audience grows, the entire ecosystem could get developed, so the demand for native blockchain tokens would grow accordingly.

Other top blockchains – Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain – may also get a comparable effect from the development of NFT.

Another interesting application of NFT is the Fragment platform from Telegram. It is likely that in the future the supply will expand and the demand for TON will increase.

We suggest forming the second part of the portfolio from specific tokens of various promising NFT tokens. In a growing market, which by all projections should occur in the second half of 2023 and all of 2024. Therefore, collections with high social capital could go up in price several times over.

When to buy ?

Today, terrific conditions for opening long-term positions for at least 1-2 years, better from 3 years or more. The ongoing scandals around centralized exchanges are constantly weighing on the value of the Binance exchange’s native token. And rumors around the potential centralization of Ethereum due to the move to PoS, with validators predominantly in the same jurisdiction, are also negatively affecting the price of ETH in the medium term.

The market as a whole continues to be in a global bearish trend, which opens up the possibility of buying any tokens at undervalued prices.

What is the right investment portfolio structure ?

• Polygon (MATIC) — 20%
• Toncoin (TON) — 20%
• Ethereum (ETH) — 10%
• Binance coin (BNB) — 5%

Another 5% can be allocated under ApeCoin (APE) acting as a native token in the company’s developed meta-universe. The company that owns the world’s most popular NFT-collections Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks and Meebits.

The remaining 40% can be distributed among different NFT-collections.

For example, find interesting offers among applied projects from social media, like collections from Reddit or Twitter.

Risks

The first part of the investment portfolio is quite conservative by the standards of the crypto market. It lists well-established, reliable projects that have many growth and development factors other than the NFT segment. Therefore, the risks in 3/5 of the portfolio do not exceed the overall risks of the market.

However, the rest are extremely risky investments. You have to consider that NFTs have several orders of magnitude less liquidity. And predicting the value of NFTs in the future does not differ in its essence from flipping a coin for luck. But, with all that, the investment can pay off many times over, given a lucky set of circumstances. For example, one appreciated token can potentially outweigh the value of all the others that will fall. But there is absolutely no guarantee that this will happen to you, to your chosen collection, with tokens owned by you.

That’s why it’s worth investing only as much as you’re willing to lose at least half of that amount.

Disclaimer

Crypto-Upvotes experts do not give investment advice, this material is published for introductory purposes only. Cryptocurrency is a volatile asset that can lead to financial losses.

The latest version of Winamp allows users to link a Metamask wallet through browsers. As well as access audio and video files on Ethereum and Polygon blockchains. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

Winamp media player has released an update with support for NFT tracks. The new 5.9.1 version of the player for Windows desktop systems allows users to link their Metamask wallet through Brave, Chrome or Firefox browsers. And access NFT-formatted audio and video files, this company said in a press release.

Winamp will now support ERC-721 and ERC-1155 tokens on Ethereum and Polygon blockchains. NFT tracks can be listened to and added to playlists, just like any other audio file format.

NFT support will be added with several other important updates. The capabilities of the player will be complemented by a feature-rich cross-platform service for content creators. This service is scheduled to launch in early 2023.

Winamp, launched in 1997, was a key player in the first digital music innovation – the mp3 format. Now the player, keeping up with the times, is introducing the next generation of formats. As more and more writers and artists use web3 technology.

Market for virtual art continues to grow, despite falling prices for cryptocurrencies and collectibles. Which of NFT artist’s works sold the most, and what was bought this summer.

NFTs are unique crypto-assets that are often objects of art and digital collectibles. Rapid growth in popularity of NFTs began in 2021. And by the end of which NFT trading volume exceeded $13 billion.

This figure was up almost 400 times from 2020 ($33 million). However, due to the downturn in the cryptocurrency market in 2022. The NFT industry has shown a significant decline in sales: in July, it was about $647.23 million.

Despite this, investors and NFT enthusiasts continue to be interested in digital art. Prices for some works by virtual artists approach those of luxury goods. And in particular, they are comparable to the cost of a luxury home. The most popular tokens continue to be items from the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats and Crypto Punks collections. Such NFTs are owned by celebrities including rappers Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, footballer Neymar, Madonna, Ozzy Osbourne and others.

Our experts found the most expensive NFTs ever sold

The Merge – $98.1 million

This work of art was created by Pak, a student of Mike Winkelmann (also known as Beeple). This painting is made up of balls of different sizes. About 29 thousand people invested in The Merge, and total value of NFT was $91.8 million.

The First 5000 Days – $69.3 million

Work by American graphic designer Beeple. NFT was sold in 2021 for $69.3 million at Christie’s auction. First 5000 Days is a collage of Beeple work from 2007.

Clock – $52.7 million

This NFT was created by digital artist Pak to support Wikileaks journalist Julian Assange. The clock counts down how many days Assange has been in prison. It was bought by an activist group AssangeDAO.

HUMAN ONE – $28.8 million

Another NFT by Beeple, sold by him at Christie’s auction. HUMAN ONE is an animated 3d image of an astronaut. Beeple has access to this NFT and can change it periodically.

CryptoPank No. 5822 – $23.7 million

Pixel NFT with a blue punk in a bandana was sold for 8,000 ETH. It was bought for that amount in early 2022.

Expensive NFT buys over last few months

The Answer

The Answer was sold for 100 ETH ($174,900) This work is by one of the most successful digital artists of anyma. Who illuminates in his work the interaction between technology and nature.

gn

NFT gn desktop wallpaper by artist Rajon Bliss (@rivenribbon) was purchased by Snoop Dogg for 64.0 ETH ($97.3k).

88MPH In SoHo

A work by photographer Guido Di Salle was sold for 55.0 ETH ($74,000).

Synth Garden

NFT by Indian artist Archana Nair was sold for 124.69 ETH ($138,100).

Painting by actor Jim Carrey– Sunshower for 62,04 ETH ($69,500 )

Solana released a Web 3.0 phone named “Saga” to appeal to a growing number of mobile phone users accessing digital assets.

Solana Labs has unveiled the “Saga” smartphone based on the Android operating system. “Saga” is a customized version of OSOM smartphone with built-in cryptocurrency wallet features. It will come pre-installed with Solana Mobile Stack. SMS a toolkit that allows you to create decentralized applications for mobile phones.

And so we found out that this smartphone will allow you to store digital assets and NFTs, sign transactions, and pay for purchases through Solana Pay. But it won’t just be a mobile phone. This device will support Solana-based apps and will have its own dapp Store. Solana Labs has said it intends to develop Saga ecosystem with partners like NFT marketplace Magic Eden, DeFi-platform Orca and wallet Phantom.

Also according to Solana website, this device features a 6.67-inch OLED display, 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage space. The smartphone is based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset.

Also SMS toolkit supports the Seed Vault secure storage protocol for private keys. This latter puts them in a special enclave, separated from the wallet, applications and operating system. Solana Labs explained that SMS provides developers with a set of libraries and APIs that allow them to create decentralized mobile applications for Android devices. Solana Mobile Stack is already available for download on GitHub.

Want to buy this smartphone now? It is possible and our Crypto-Upvotes team found out how to do it.

“Saga” is expected to go on sale in early 2023 at a price of $1,000. Our experts found out that it is already possible to place a pre-order for 100 USDC – this amount will be deducted from the full price of smartphone, it is also already known will first be released in USA, Canada, EU and UK markets. So with an estimated price of $1,000. Saga mobile phone will compete with flagship models from Apple, Samsung and other mobile phone companies. With a strong ecosystem of software developers who can develop alternative Web 3.0 applications.