Solana’s price has gained significant momentum over the past week. It has risen by 10% amid the improving sentiment across the broader cryptocurrency market.
This renewed optimism has propelled the coin upward, and with bullish momentum gaining strength, SOL appears poised for a sustained rally.
Market Momentum Turns in Solana’s Favor
SOL’s double-digit rally in the past week has caused its price to trade within an ascending parallel channel on the daily chart.
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This pattern is formed when price action creates a series of higher highs and higher lows, moving between two upward-sloping parallel trendlines. The lower boundary acts as dynamic support, while the upper boundary serves as resistance
When an asset trades within such a channel, it signals an uptrend where demand outweighs supply. Readings from SOL’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) confirm the buy-side pressure currently backing its rally. As of this writing, this momentum indicator stands at 57.63.
The RSI indicator measures an asset’s overbought and oversold market conditions. It ranges between 0 and 100. Values above 70 suggest that the asset is overbought and due for a price decline, while values under 30 indicate that the asset is oversold and may witness a rebound.
SOL’s RSI readings indicate market participants prefer accumulation over distribution. If this trend continues, its price could continue to rise.
Furthermore, SOL’s Elder-Ray Index has remained positive for the past two trading sessions, marking a significant turnaround after a nine-day streak of red histogram bars. This shift signals a positive change in market momentum, with the index currently at 11.71 at press time.
The Elder-Ray Index measures the balance of power between buyers and sellers. When its value is positive, bullish pressure outweighs bearish pressure, with buyers gaining market control.
In SOL’s case, its Elder-Ray Index strengthens the bullish outlook and suggests that the recent rally could extend if buying interest persists.
SOL Bulls and Bears Face Off Near $186
At press time, SOL changes hands at $181.82, sitting just below the resistance level at $186.52, the upper boundary of its ascending parallel channel.
A surge in buying pressure could see the token break through this barrier and push past the psychologically significant $190 mark.
Following years of anticipation, Shiba Inu’s Layer-2 (L2) solution Shibarium launched on August 16, 2023. Despite being designed to bring speed, scalability, and reduced costs to SHIB holders, network data shows that Shibarium’s daily activity has significantly lagged behind competing L2 networks like Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism.
This piece looks at how Shibarium has performed this year and what its slow growth means for the wider Shiba Inu ecosystem, especially for BONE, the token that powers Shibarium, and SHIB itself.
Shibarium’s User Engagement Falters After Meme Market Rally
According to Shibariumscan, Shiba Inu’s L2 network had an unimpressive start to the year. In the first quarter of 2025, daily active addresses on the network were relatively low, showing little user engagement.
It was not until April that activity began to pick up on Shibarium. This spike in network usage was driven by the surge in meme coin activity across the broader crypto market.
For context, between April 10 and May 10, the meme coin market capitalization rose 56% as demand for these assets rocketed.
Riding that wave, Shibarium saw a surge in activity, peaking at over 21,000 daily active addresses on May 12, its year-to-date high. However, this momentum did not last.
As the meme coin market mania began to fade in late May, user activity on Shibarium also declined. By June 5, the number of daily active addresses had fallen to around 9,000—a drop of more than 55% in just three weeks.
Shibarium Daily Active Accounts. Source: Shibariumscan
Why Shiba Inu’s Layer-2 Network Is Falling Behind Other L2s
This pattern of user activity on Shibarium suggests a lack of sustained utility or use cases that keep users engaged beyond speculative trading.
In an exclusive interview with BeInCrypto, Dominick John, an analyst at Kronos Research, noted that while Shibarium experiences “bursts of community-driven activity,” it still lags behind other Layer-2 networks like Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism.
“Those networks benefit from robust ecosystems and composability in DEFI beyond the memecoin hype. For Shibarium to stand out, it must evolve and cultivate a unique DeFi ecosystem that delivers long-term value,” John explained.
According to John, Shibarium’s muted growth “reflects project-specific hurdles, limited dApp adoption, ecosystem fragmentation, and fierce L2 competition more than meme-token fatigue.”
On-chain data from DefiLlama confirms this narrative. Currently, Shibarium hosts just 18 decentralized finance (DeFi) projects— a stark contrast to more established Layer-2s like Base and Arbitrum, which support 549 and 741 projects, respectively.
Lynn C., SONEX’s CMO, echoes the same sentiment. Lynn acknowledges that meme-token fatigue may be partially responsible for Shibarium’s slow adoption, but emphasizes that much of the challenge lies in project-specific scaling strategies.
“On one hand, there is certainly meme-token fatigue in the market as users look for more utility-driven projects. On the other hand, Shibarium’s growth challenges may be specific to how the network is structured and its approach to scaling. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and different projects take different paths toward growth,” she said.
Despite its challenges, Shibarium has introduced utility benefits to the Shiba Inu ecosystem. John noted, “Shibarium has strengthened the Shiba Inu ecosystem by enabling cheaper transactions, supporting SHIB burns, and giving BONE real utility.”
For Lynn, the L2 “has added an important component to the Shiba Inu ecosystem by offering a Layer-2 network that promises to scale transactions and reduce costs.”
BONE Token Struggles Amid Shibarium’s Slow Adoption
BONE serves as the primary gas token, facilitating transactions and enabling users to interact on Shibarium. With fewer transactions taking place on the L2, the practical need for BONE as gas has diminished. This lack of on-chain utility has impacted the token’s market performance, falling 38% YTD.
John echoed this concern, stating that, “from a market-making perspective, token utility needs to translate into recurring on-chain demand and transactional velocity. At this stage, BONE demonstrates some early use cases, but it has yet to establish consistent capital retention across the ecosystem.”
On the other hand, Lynn holds a more cautiously optimistic view of BONE. In her words:
“BONE has certainly played a role within the Shiba Inu ecosystem, but like many tokens, it’s still working on building its utility beyond speculative trading. It’s common for newer tokens to find their footing as they grow and develop more use cases. The demand for tokens like BONE will evolve as the ecosystem matures and as more opportunities for real utility emerge.”
For the SHIB meme coin, Shibarium’s lackluster performance also has its impacts.
“If Shibarium fails to scale meaningfully, SHIB holders face several risks: reduced utility due to low transaction volume and limited dApp adoption, weaker SHIB burn rates, and stagnating token value,” John added.
Lynn, on the other hand, struck a slightly more optimistic tone. According to her:
“If Shibarium doesn’t scale, it could slow down the momentum of the broader Shiba Inu ecosystem, especially in terms of user adoption and network effects. However, it’s important to remember that blockchain and DeFi projects face various challenges as they grow, and Shibarium’s trajectory will likely continue to evolve as the team adapts to feedback and market needs.”
The crypto market had a volatile week that ended on a not-so-positive note, led by Bitcoin. Altcoins experienced a similar week, with many noting losses, especially the meme coins, some of which are inching closer to a new all-time low.
BeInCrypto has analyzed three such meme coins, which showcase the different intensities of the market’s drawdown: some noted weekly lows, and others saw massive losses.
Brett (BRETT)
BRETT price had gained 9% over the last week but lost all the gain on Friday after seeing major corrections. The meme coin is trading at $0.0379, below the local resistance of $0.0429.
The meme coin continues to struggle against broader bearish market conditions, making it difficult to break higher. However, with sustained interest, a rise above resistance remains possible.
The primary target for BRETT is to breach $0.0478 and flip it into support after noting a 17% rise. This has been an ongoing challenge for the altcoin, with previous attempts failing over the past month.
Successfully flipping $0.0478 into support would open the path for further growth, potentially pushing BRETT above $0.0500.
However, if BRETT fails to break through $0.0429, it could retrace to $0.0372. Falling below this level would invalidate the current bullish outlook, potentially sending the altcoin down to $0.0348.
Goatseus Maximus (GOAT)
GOAT has faced a persistent downtrend since the start of the year, currently trading at $0.0634. This prolonged decline has erased nearly all of its previous gains. The market’s overall bearish conditions have kept the altcoin struggling, making it difficult for GOAT to secure upward momentum.
Currently, GOAT is trading just above its all-time low (ATL) of $0.0601, having experienced a significant 37% decline over the past week. If the market conditions remain unfavorable, the altcoin could see a drop below $0.0600, potentially marking a new ATL and deepening its losses.
However, if GOAT receives support from bullish investors or market sentiment shifts positively, it could stage a recovery.
The meme coin’s target would be $0.1104, and if it successfully breaches this resistance, the bearish outlook could be invalidated, helping GOAT recover from its recent losses.
OFFICIAL TRUMP (TRUMP)
TRUMP initially jumped to $13.11 this week before seeing a drop to $12.28 on Friday. The meme coin has managed to hold above the key support level of $12.10, indicating a stabilizing trend amid the broader market’s volatility.
This support level continues to be critical for price movements.
While TRUMP reached an intra-week high of $17.14, the altcoin has struggled to maintain upward momentum. The ongoing downtrend and prevailing bearish market conditions pulled the price back down.
Moving forward, TRUMP is likely to consolidate between $17.14 and $12.41, with these levels marking significant resistance and support.
The only way this neutral outlook is invalidated is if TRUMP falls below $12.41. A breakdown below this support could lead the altcoin to slide toward its all-time low (ATL) of $11.07, signaling a more bearish trend.
This would also extend the losses seen in the current downtrend.
Stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to stable assets like the USD—are drawing increasing attention from top payment companies. Recent reports claim stablecoin transaction volumes over the past year have surpassed Visa.
However, industry experts are skeptical of these numbers. This article explores the reasons behind that skepticism.
Why Experts Suspect Stablecoin Volume Might Be Inflated
Recently, Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, posted on X that the weekly transaction volume of stablecoins has exceeded that of Visa, reaching over $400 billion. He added that companies like Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe are actively embracing the trend.
According to the data, in Q4 of 2024, the average weekly stablecoin transaction volume reached $464 billion. That’s significantly higher than Visa’s $319 billion. A Bitwise report estimates that stablecoins processed about $13.5 trillion in total transaction volume in 2024. This marks the first time stablecoin volume surpassed Visa’s annual total.
At first glance, this seems like a major milestone, suggesting that stablecoins could reshape the future of global payments. Citigroup even projects that the stablecoin market could reach $3.7 trillion by 2030.
Not everyone shares the enthusiasm. Some experts have warned that the reported stablecoin volume might be inflated. They argue it doesn’t reflect real economic activity and shouldn’t be directly compared with traditional systems like Visa.
Joe, an advisor at Maven 11 Capital, pointed out that professional traders can generate hundreds of millions in volume using very little initial capital.
“If you have $100,000 of USDC on Solana, you can do ~$136 million of ‘stablecoin volume’ for $1 in fees,” Joe said.
He used Solana as an example. Solana is a fast blockchain with extremely low transaction fees—about $0.0036 per transaction. Joe even joked that with $3,400, someone could double weekly stablecoin transaction volumes. He implied that the metric is easy to manipulate and not truly reliable.
Dan Smith, a data expert at Blockworks Research, strongly supported Joe’s view. Dan explained that using flash loans—uncollateralized loans in DeFi—can inflate volume even further at lower costs.
Flash loans allow users to borrow large sums without collateral, as long as they repay within the same transaction. This enables volume manipulation without requiring significant capital, further casting doubt on the numbers cited by Palihapitiya.
Rajiv, a member of Framework Ventures, was even more direct. He called stablecoin volume a “useless metric.” Dan Smith agreed. He added that the unusually high volume often signals exploitative behavior within the system.
Wash Trading and Bot Trading Undermine Economic Value
One key reason experts doubt stablecoin volume is the presence of wash trading and bot trading.
Wash trading involves repeatedly buying and selling between wallets controlled by the same person or entity. The goal is to artificially inflate transaction volume. Bot trading uses automated programs to conduct trades, often for arbitrage or fake liquidity.
A $1 million stablecoin transaction might just be money transferred between two wallets owned by the same person. It adds no real economic value. This contrasts sharply with Visa, where each transaction typically represents a real purchase or payment, like buying goods or services.
Last year, Visa’s dashboard also reported that only 10% of stablecoin transactions were genuine. A wash trading report by Chainalysis found that wash trades involving ERC-20 and BEP-20 tokens could total up to $2.57 billion in volume in 2024.
