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In December 2020, Solana was just another ticker on an exchange, trading for less than the cost of a cup of coffee. At barely $1, it was an obscure experiment in speed and scale, overshadowed by Ethereum’s dominance and countless other coins promising to shape the future. Most dismissed it as a footnote, another layer 1 racing to nowhere.

But behind the scenes, something was quietly taking shape.

To set the backdrop, 2020 and 2021 unfolded as one of the most unforgettable bull markets in decades. Fuelled by unprecedented balance sheet expansion by global central banks and the democratisation of finance through platforms like Robinhood and Coinbase, risk assets soared across the board.

Solana surged from $1 in December 2020 to over $58 by May 2021, a staggering 5,000% increase in just five months. The beauty of crypto, hey?

Whenever a token experiences that kind of demand and price appreciation, it inevitably attracts attention. Beyond the venture capital money quietly accumulating throughout 2020, Solana’s ecosystem was gaining momentum thanks to the support of FTX and Alameda Research, led by Sam Bankman-Fried.

SBF had launched the decentralised exchange Serum on Solana and was particularly vocal in his endorsement. That backing helped propel SOL to a dizzying all-time high of $259 by November 2021.

If 2020 and 2021 were the greatest party Wall Street had ever seen, 2022 was the worst hangover in living memory. Inflation soared past 9%. Central banks raised rates at the fastest pace in history. Russia invaded Ukraine. The list of shocks seemed endless.

With crypto still largely a speculative asset class, it suffered the most severe drawdowns. Bitcoin fell 77%, Ethereum 81%, and Solana collapsed 96%.

Within that macro carnage, crypto faced multiple Armageddon moments: the implosions of Luna, Celsius, Three Arrows Capital, and finally FTX itself at the end of the year.

While Bitcoin and Ethereum held up relatively well through the FTX collapse, Solana suffered disproportionately due to its close association with SBF. At its low, Solana traded below $8.

After 2022, trust across the industry was shattered. The downfall of projects once thought to be titans left investors understandably cautious. Yet beneath the surface, Solana kept building, developer interest persisted, and on-chain activity began recovering.

By October 2023, SOL had clawed back to $20. Just six months later, it was back above $200, a remarkable comeback.

This was one of the most hated rallies in recent memory. Solana was supposed to be dead, branded “the Sam coin,” “the VC coin,” written off by nearly everyone. Against all odds, it survived and thrived.

In crypto, price drives narrative, just as it did for Solana in 2021. This time, the narrative was memecoins.

So far, memecoins have emerged as some of the most significant winners of the current cycle. At their core, they represent a celebration of human expression, a playground of experimentation, all vividly captured in the erratic movements of a candlestick chart.

Memes have sparked debate, but their appeal is clear: they are entertaining, free of superficial technological complexity, and represent a natural reaction to the opaque, insider-driven world of venture backed tokens.

Amid this craze, Solana became the biggest beneficiary. Increased activity on-chain ultimately translated into higher prices over time. In many ways, Solana and memecoins in 2024 mirrored what Ethereum and NFTs were in 2021, only faster, cheaper and providing a much better user experience.

Today, Solana faces a new challenge and a new era with the launch of its ETF.

From just another ticker on a crypto exchange to a recognised name on Wall Street.

The REX Osprey Solana + Staking ETF (ticker SSK) began trading on the Cboe BZX Exchange, marking the first US spot ETF offering direct Solana exposure plus staking yields. The product allocates roughly 80% of its assets to spot SOL, with about half actively staked, generating an estimated 7–8% annual yield.

On its first trading day, SSK attracted approximately $12 million in inflows and about $33 million in trading volume, a solid debut for a niche altcoin ETF, even if still modest compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum equivalents. Bloomberg analysts described the launch as “healthy,” while CoinMarketCap reported an immediate 6-12% spike in SOL prices.

Perhaps even more exciting, in the past few weeks, Solana saw the launch of tokenised stocks. On June 30th, XStocks, powered by Robinhood, went live on the network. Solana accounted for over 95% of on-chain stock volume, with first-day trading exceeding $1.3 million and a total AUM of nearly $49 million. Assets like SPYx, TSLAx, and METAx are gaining traction, already held by tens of thousands of wallets.

From obscurity to implosion, from revival to reinvention, Solana’s story is a testament to crypto’s unique capacity for reinvention and a reminder that in this space, nothing is ever truly over.

The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Solana