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From Brazil ETF to Outperforming BNB and ETH: Solana's Eventful Week in Review
Brazil Approves Solana ETF as SOL Rebounds and Ecosystem Activity Accelerates
TL;DR
- Brazil approved what was described as the world's first spot Solana ETF, pending final approval from stock exchange B3.
- SOL recovered 35% to $144 after a broader market sell-off, while the SOL/ETH ratio reached an all-time high of 0.059.
- Solana's market capitalization climbed to $71.3 billion, pushing SOL above BNB into fourth place among cryptocurrencies by market cap on August 8.
- Jito validator tips reached a record 17,290 SOL as 68,000 new tokens launched during the week.
- Solayer secured Binance Labs backing, while Andrena raised $18 million for Solana-based decentralized wireless network DAWN.
Solana had an eventful week through August 8, 2024, combining a historic ETF approval in Brazil, strong price performance, record validator tips and new investment across its ecosystem.
Brazil Approves Spot Solana ETF
Brazil's securities regulator approved a spot Solana ETF on August 8.
Described at the time as the world's first Solana spot ETF, the product remained in a pre-operational phase and still required final approval from Brazilian exchange B3.
The approval created a new regulated route for Brazilian investors to gain exposure to SOL.
SOL Outperforms ETH and Flips BNB
Solana also recovered strongly from the week's broader $500 billion crypto-market sell-off.
On August 6, the SOL/ETH ratio reached a record 0.059. SOL rebounded approximately 35% to $144, compared with Ethereum's roughly 15% recovery to $2,463.
Solana-based memecoins rose about 30% on August 7 as SOL climbed 38% from Monday's low.
By August 8, Solana had approximately $4.79 billion in total value locked and $3.68 billion in stablecoin market capitalization.
SOL's market cap reached about $71.3 billion, allowing it to overtake BNB as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market value at the time.
Jito Validator Tips Reach Record High
Jito validator tips reached a record 17,290 SOL, worth roughly $3.19 million, amid increased network activity and token launches.
About 68,000 new tokens were launched during the week.
The surge highlighted demand for Jito's MEV infrastructure but also raised questions about how much activity represented sustainable adoption rather than speculative token creation.
Pacmoon Migrates to Solana as ARMY
Blast-based memecoin Pacmoon announced that it was moving to Solana and rebranding as ARMY.
The project cited difficulties building on its previous network and positioned Solana's transaction infrastructure as better suited to its future operations.
Sonic Gaming SVM Passes 1 Million Users
Solana's gaming-focused Sonic Virtual Machine surpassed 1 million monthly active users during its testnet phase.
Its Odyssey campaign helped drive participation by rewarding users with “rings” for transactions and activities across eight games.
Sonic's CEO nevertheless argued that Web3 gaming still lacked important support infrastructure, including project services, marketing and go-to-market strategies.
Binance Labs Backs Solayer
Binance Labs invested in Solayer, a Solana restaking protocol.
Solayer had attracted more than $150 million in TVL and 70,000 unique addresses within two months.
The project planned to use the backing to expand its team, integrate additional protocols and address network-congestion challenges.
Andrena Raises $18 Million for DAWN
Solana-based Andrena raised $18 million in a Series A extension led by Dragonfly, with participation from CMT Digital and other investors.
The financing brought total funding to $38 million.
Andrena planned to launch DAWN, a decentralized wireless network targeting initial coverage of 3 million U.S. households.
DJT Falls 98% Amid Liquidity Claims
Solana-based TrumpCoin (DJT) fell more than 98% on August 6, dropping to $0.00004445 as its market capitalization collapsed from $56 million to below $500,000.
Martin Shkreli accused Barron Trump of removing liquidity and claimed Trump had access to the token's keys.
Those allegations and claims of Barron Trump's involvement with DJT remained unverified.
The episode capped a volatile week for Solana: regulated investment access expanded in Brazil while network activity, ecosystem investment and speculative trading all accelerated at the same time.
