As investor adoption of crypto, retail and institutional, continues to develop exponentially, discussions are usually centered round bitcoin and ethereum. The previous is lauded for its retailer of worth whereas the latter carries extra practical utility when making an allowance for its function in the blockchain community. One identify that may not be as acquainted to extra informal crypto traders is solana. Extra traders could begin listening to about solana vying for ethereum’s high spot on the blockchain networks listing.
Ethereum has benefited as bitcoin continues to achieve report ranges this 12 months. Bitcoin has risen in tandem with its bodily rival, gold, in the present market atmosphere, the place the greenback continues to exhibit weak point in a rate-cutting atmosphere. Nonetheless, ethereum has made a run of its personal, reaching a new high in August 2025 — one thing it hasn’t executed in nearly 4 years.
As beforehand talked about, the funding case for ethereum differs with that of bitcoin. Ether is the native coin of the ethereum blockchain community, which contains the underlying expertise used to develop decentralized functions and digital belongings like cryptocurrencies. Traders can consider it as betting on the expansion of the crypto infrastructure itself versus a person coin. As such, ether represents a share of the ethereum community similar to one share of inventory represents possession in a whole firm.
From a pure worth standpoint, the disparity between bitcoin (over $100,000) and ethereum (over $4,000) is an unfair comparability. Nonetheless, in phrases of pure share good points, the 2 are nearly neck and neck in year-do-date efficiency. Traders trying to seize the upside in ethereum can make investments in the ether coin itself, or a fund just like the Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF (QETH).
Or, they will take into account one other different: solana.
Right here Comes Solana
Scorching on the heels of ethereum is solana — one other burgeoning blockchain community. Whereas Solana doesn’t have the mass adoption of ethereum, it actually has the potential to achieve mass scale. Kathy Kriskey, Invesco’s product strategist of commodities and alternate options, made a eager comparability of solana and a “bullet prepare.” The ethereum community is a extremely congested freeway generally used to get from level A to B. Solana, although, like a high-speed prepare, has the potential to do it faster and cheaper as its community expertise evolves.
At simply over $200, the funding case for Solana versus ethereum is a perfect alternative to contemplate for worth seekers. That case is supported by a host of other reasons why Solana could be a greater funding than ether.
As acknowledged, the expansion potential of solana is very large. CoinDesk famous that solana’s income generated in October 2024 by September 2025 was $2.85 billion. For comparability, CoinDesk famous the annual revenues of high tier corporations Palantir ($2.8 billion) and Robinhood ($2.95 billion) in 2024.
“Solana is not an experiment,” mentioned Matt Mena, a crypto analysis strategist at 21Shares. “It’s a functioning digital financial system displaying actual endurance.”
For extra information, data, and evaluation, go to the Innovative ETFs Content Hub.
