The altcoin market is full of projects claiming to be Ethereum killers. The strongest of these, Solana (SOL), was devastated when the stock market it was associated with collapsed, FTX. Cryptocurrency graveyard next?
Solana: The biggest Ethereum killer
In the early history of Bitcoin (BTC), altcoins appeared that were said to be practical for everyday money. All these cryptos were based on the argument that they were faster than BTC and had lower fees. Intense competition did not allow some to survive to the present day, while others remain in the top 10. Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) are examples. Both altcoins entered the top 10 but failed to maintain their popularity.
In the following years, the first altcoin to make a difference was Ethereum (ETH). After that, it became the hub of DeFi, DEX and NFTs as a home to the major trends of the Blockchain world. The smart contract feature was the main reason that differentiated Ethereum from the others.
Solana, on the other hand, took the market step in April 2019. The biggest move in the market was the NFT sector. The altcoin project has a hybrid consensus, proof-of-stake (PoS) and proof-of-history (PoH) model to ensure scalability. It’s also designed to keep fees low for apps with billions of users. It also offers one of the lowest transaction fees on the market.
Solana is coming to an end?
Like other cryptocurrencies, Solana fell sharply in 2022. The altcoin has dropped more than 90% since its ATH price in November 2021. The latest major blow was the bankruptcy of FTX and its sister company, Alameda. In its early years, Solana had strong support from Bankman-Fried (SBF) and its companies. That was exactly the source of the thought. Currently, Alameda, which has invested in Solana, is expected to sell its holdings after bankruptcy. Solana continues to decline amid these concerns. Throughout the process, it has moved away from the top 10 in terms of market value. At the time of writing, it is trading at $15 at $12.80.
Tether made a critical announcement for SOL
On November 18, the stablecoin producer announced a $1 billion transfer to convert USDT from the Solana network to Ethereum. Tether noted that there will be no change in the total supply of the number of tokens in this process.
In few minutes Tether will coordinate with a 3rd party to perform a chain swap, converting from Solana to Ethereum ERC20, for 1B USDt. The #tether total supply will not change during this process.
Learn more about chain swaps ⬇️https://t.co/abfgnELSvi— Tether (@Tether_to) November 18, 2022
Meanwhile, the announcement comes as Solana, which was among the top 5 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization just a few weeks ago, had problems due to the failure of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Transferring cryptocurrencies from one Blockchain to another is called “chain swap”. Tether has done this multiple times in the past when demand to use their stablecoins has moved from one blockchain to another. For example, in mid-2020, Tether exchanged $1 billion USDT from Tron to Ethereum twice.
