There’s a darkish cloud on the horizon, however there are tailwinds too.
A lot to the chagrin of its holders, together with yours actually, Solana (SOL 2.47%) misplaced 37% of its worth in the course of the previous 12 months. The losses have been largely brought on by crypto market components, together with the Oct. 10 flash crash, slightly than any detrimental catalysts associated to the coin itself. The unhealthy information is that no less than one such catalyst could now be on the way in which, which we are going to get into a bit later.
The excellent news is that there are a couple of alternatives in play which might in the end make for highly effective tailwinds. So is that this coin value shopping for, promoting, or holding in 2026? Let’s dive in and determine it out.
Picture supply: Getty Photos.
The bull thesis simply bought stronger
Solana is well-known because the quickest and least expensive blockchain to make use of among the many crypto majors. Velocity and low-cost transactions make it a sexy place to difficulty or handle tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), significantly for belongings which might be usually traded incessantly and in massive volumes, like shares. Due to this fact, one main pillar of the investment thesis for getting Solana in 2026 is the concept that will probably be the perfect place for equities on the blockchain, thereby resulting in massive capital inflows to the chain and boosting its worth.
At this time, about $872 million in tokenized belongings commerce on Solana, up by about 9.5% from simply 30 days in the past. Firstly of 2025, these belongings totaled simply $174 million. Each time a tokenized inventory, bond, or different asset is traded, it requires holders to spend a small quantity of Solana, a few of which is burned and faraway from circulation. So, the enlargement of the tokenized asset base is prone to apply upward strain on the coin’s worth over the long term, albeit fairly slowly.
At this time’s Change
(-2.47%) $-3.40
Present Value
$134.44
Key Information Factors
Market Cap
$76B
Day’s Vary
$134.08 – $138.14
52wk Vary
$96.70 – $293.31
Quantity
4.4B
The opposite current improvement that is bullish is the approval of Solana spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in late 2025.
The purpose of the ETFs is that they let buyers who haven’t got crypto wallets get publicity to the coin. To date, inflows into the Solana ETFs have not been earth-shattering. As an example, on Jan. 2, web capital inflows totaled simply $9.7 million.
Nonetheless, if different crypto ETFs present any clues, buyers ought to anticipate a regular stream of inflows to regularly bolster the value of Solana, with inflows probably selecting up pace over the course of 2026 and past. Though it is true that capital inflows can grow to be outflows if sentiment turns bearish, it is simple that the coin is now a part of a small membership in crypto, as most belongings aren’t remotely accessible by any means to the capital that is in the standard monetary system.
There may very well be a fly in the ointment
One huge downside dealing with Solana in 2026 is that a few of its most essential supporting organizations, together with key executives at each Solana Labs and the Solana Basis, have been named as defendants in a class motion lawsuit which was expanded in late 2025. The plaintiffs allege that quite a few people related to the chain enabled one of many greatest tasks in Solana’s ecosystem, Pump.enjoyable, to take advantage of retail buyers in the course of the launch of latest meme coins, unfairly capturing cash from them in what was marketed as a truthful launch course of.
There is not a lot level in speculating in regards to the outcomes of the lawsuit. The problem is that so long as the lawsuit is alive, there’s a huge threat shadowing Solana. It is apparent that the identical threat is also lethal for one among its main tasks, that means that a detrimental final result would possible be a double whammy in phrases of its impact on the community.
It is also usually not a nice concept to speculate in an asset that is dealing with a important lawsuit, so this is not one thing buyers ought to merely brush off.
The long run continues to be vivid, but it surely’s a contact dimmer than earlier than
I’ll in all probability nonetheless be shopping for Solana in 2026, albeit at a a lot decrease depth than I did in the previous few years. There are no main aggressive threats to the chain on the horizon, and I anticipate that the ETF-associated capital inflows, in addition to its rising dominance in the real-world asset phase, will finally ship the coin’s worth larger than it’s right this moment.
It is not a nice concept to promote this coin. Nevertheless it’s doubtlessly a extra comprehensible proposition than earlier than, because of the lawsuit. Though the long-term outlook continues to be good, buyers ought to anticipate some short-term turbulence that is likely to be excessive at instances. In the event you select to dabble, know that you’ll in all probability sleep probably the most soundly at evening when you hold your place on the small aspect.
