The co-founder of the second largest cryptocurrency boosted the value of an Ethereum rival.
02 January 2023 14.01
Bitcoinethereum and most other cryptocurrencies major saw their prices fall considerably during the last month of 2022 after the collapse of FTX it would kill trust and push other crypto companies over the edge.
The bitcoin price plunged below $17,000, up from nearly $50,000 at this time last year. Ethereum saw similar declines, while FTX-pegged cryptocurrencies such as solanathey saw even steeper drops.
Now the co-founder of ethereum, Vitalik Buterinprompted a rally for ethereum rival solana, causing it to rise more than 10% by predicting it has a “Brilliant Future” despite the disappearance of FTX.
“Some people tell me there’s a serious community of smart developers on Solana, and now that the horrible opportunists of the money have been eliminated, the chain has a bright future”, Buterin published in Twitter. “It’s hard for me to say from the outside, but I hope the community gets its fair chance to thrive.”
Solana’s role in the crypto ecosystem
Solana, a cryptocurrency that had seen a huge price rally through 2021 and has gained market share from ethereum, had been heavily backed by FTX and the exchange’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.
The price of solana reached a record of just over US$250 per sol, giving the network a market capitalization of nearly US$ 80 billion. After the price crash of bitcoin, ethereum, and broader crypto that wiped more than $2 trillion out of the combined crypto market, Solana’s market capitalization shrank to just $4 billion.
Ethereum’s rival was promoted as a blockchain of “third generation”, following first generation bitcoin and second generation ethereum, with fast transaction rates, low fees, and scalability relative to other cryptocurrencies. However, the network suffered outages and accusations of centralization.
Over the past two years, solana has received backing from technology investors Chamath Palihapitiya y David Sacks.
“I got to see a little bit under the hood of Solana Pay, and that’s really exciting,” Palihapitiya said in an episode of podcast All-In along with Sacks in April 2022.”[Solana y blockchain] It’s like a swarm of activity to take down these payment businesses,” referring to Visa y MasterCard.
*With information from Forbes US.