San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly is the latest Fed official to comment on the possibility of a Fed rate cut. Daly suggested that an interest rate cut will come at some point, but warned that there was no need for them to be in a hurry. Two Fed Rate Cuts This Year Are
President Donald Trump’s recent decision to impose 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, along with increasing tariffs on China to 20%, has led to threats of retaliation. These trade wars have caused billions of dollars in liquidation in the crypto market, sending leading altcoins like Solana to their yearly lowest prices. As a result, important on-chain metrics have sharply declined, increasing the likelihood that Solana’s price may remain stuck below the $100 mark.
Solana’s Active Address Count Declines
Solana’s price is facing a critical moment after falling below the important $100 support level, marking its lowest level since February 2024.
According to data from Coinglass, there have been significant liquidations of Solana positions in the past 24 hours, totaling about $86.3 million. Out of this, buyers liquidated $67.2 million in long positions, while sellers closed $19.1 million in short positions.
Adding to this selling pressure, more than $50 million worth of SOL tokens are scheduled to unlock this week. Meanwhile, the overall altcoin market is experiencing high fear levels, with the crypto fear and greed index now at 22.
On-chain activity has also been dropping recently. The number of active addresses on Solana decreased from a peak of 3.52 million to 2.99 million last week. Additionally, new addresses on the network fell from 3.51 million to 2.78 million. This decline in activity suggests weakening demand and interest, indicating sellers currently have the advantage.
Aside from the recent sharp decline in Solana’s price, the protocol has also lost its position as the top decentralized exchange (DEX), falling behind Ethereum. This could negatively impact sentiment. However, there are positive moves worth noting, which might meet SOL buyers’ expectations.
One important factor is the push for a Solana ETF in the United States. Although the chances of approval aren’t as strong as those for Litecoin or Dogecoin ETFs, if approved, a Solana ETF would attract long-term support to the ecosystem.
What’s Next for SOL Price?
Solana (SOL) is currently facing a strong downward pressure as its price dropped sharply after failing to hold at $118. The price initially dropped below the crucial $100 level to form a low near $95. However, it later triggered a rebound and surged above $100. As of writing, SOL price trades at $106, declining over 1.53% in the last 24 hours.
Interestingly, buyers have shown interest to accumulate more SOL around the dip below $100, resulting in the recent rebound.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 39, indicating that the bearish momentum is strong. If buyers manage to rally and push the price up towards the crucial resistance of $110, SOL could potentially reach a resistance zone at $135-$160. Breaking past this point might restore market confidence and possibly lead to a rise towards $180.
Conversely, if SOL fails to stay above the $110 level, it could face a stronger decline, possibly falling to an important support level at around $100. A drop below this could trigger further losses, sending Solana below $80.
The post Solana Activity Plunges as SOL Drops Below $100 for the First Time in a Year: What’s Next for SOL Price? appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
President Donald Trump’s recent decision to impose 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, along with increasing tariffs on China to 20%, has led to threats of retaliation. These trade wars have caused billions of dollars in liquidation in the crypto market, sending leading altcoins like Solana to their yearly lowest prices. As a …
While the token has not yet been launched, expectations are already swelling that the final unlock could bring in $1 billion to $2 billion, if not more.
“We have reached our deposit cap of $500 million. We are thrilled that 1,100+ wallets participated, with a median deposit amount of ~$35,000. Trillions,” Plasma announced.
Amid the headlines and hype, however, a deeper story is emerging. Concerns extend from whale domination and insider access to a growing sense that token launches are increasingly becoming gated events for the crypto elite.
The numbers show that only a handful of wallets accounted for outsized allocations. More specifically, the top three contributors alone deployed over $100 million collectively.
Perhaps more shocking, one user reportedly paid 39 ETH (approximately $104,871 at current rates of $2,689) in gas fees, which secured them a $10 million USDC allocation.
“This guy spent 100k in gas (230,000 Gwei) to get his deposit in for Plasma,” wrote MonaMoon, the founder of the Duck Frens NFT project.
User pays 39 ETH for a $10 million USDC allocation on Plasma ICO. Source: ManaMoon on X
This illustrates the intensity of FOMO and the lengths participants were willing to go to for early access. Notwithstanding, the frenzy has come at a reputational cost. With whales taking the lion’s share, many are calling this launch anything but fair.
“…it’s an obvious skip for the community…Only 100 wallets with $50 million each… these wallets alone will create an oversubscription of 100x… unfortunately, it’s not a fair launch, even though the price is very attractive,” warned an X user before the raise closed.
Despite offering just 10% of the total XPL token supply in the public sale at a $500 million FDV (fully diluted valuation), retail users were effectively pushed to the sidelines. They will likely only get in later, at 10x to 16x the price.
Critics Slam Plasma’s Tech and Tokenomics- ICO Was a Lockout, Not a Launch
This sharp disparity has some dubbing it a “whale sale,” rather than a launch accessible to the broader community. Further, there may be more than just bad optics at play. Crypto trader Hanzo raised serious red flags, suggesting possible coordinated insider behavior.
Hanzo calls out over 100 wallets, each receiving 48 million USDC, before the token even launched, highlighting that some of these wallets approved token interactions before the token contract went public.
“That means insiders had early access to mint and trade. This wasn’t a surprise launch — it was a private party. Retail wasn’t invited,” he claimed.
The mechanics of the raise also raise questions. Hosted on Sonar/Echo, dubbed by some as “the CoinList of this cycle,” a time-weighted share of vault deposits determined plasma’s deposit period.
Participants had to lock stablecoins on Ethereum, with a minimum 40-day lockup. However, with the deposit cap abruptly raised to $500 million and filled almost instantly, many users were left wondering whether this was ever meant to be an open opportunity.
Even the technology underpinning Plasma has not escaped scrutiny. A user broke down the chain’s architecture and found it lacking.
“Plasma is another L1 chain… It uses a ‘classic’ pBFT consensus layer, with Proof-of-Stake… and Bitcoin as ‘settlement’ by simply publishing state differences… It looks a lot like many alt-L1 EVM forks… It surfs on the Bitcoin “side-chain” marketing campaign and is pushed by influencors.. but I am not convinced at all,” the user noted.
In his view, Plasma’s use of influencers and Bitcoin branding is more marketing veneer than technical substance.
What makes this worse is how well it’s working.
Influencers are hyping it. Retail is showing up.
The liquidity is flowing — right where it needs to.
Still, not everyone agrees. Zaheer from SplitCapital praised the distribution, noting a broad holder distribution with over 1,100 wallets and only one wallet holding $50 million.
“All things considered insanely good distribution of holders for Plasma at $500m total size of deposit. Seeing a ton of folks with smaller amounts on here and only one entity with $50m in a wallet. Well done,” he stated in a post.
According to Zaheer, this contrasts with the typical whale-dominated ICOs and suggests a more inclusive allocation strategy.
Plasma’s ICO serves as a mirror to today’s market mechanics, where speed, size, and for some, connections, often matter more than innovation or accessibility.
Whether Plasma becomes a foundational chain or another cautionary tale will depend on the unlock numbers and how its ecosystem fairs beyond the ICO hype.
XRP lawyer John Deaton has again heaped praises on Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s leadership skills. This time, the legal expert opined that the Garlinghouse can pass as the ‘Steve Jobs’ of the crypto industry. XRP Lawyer Nominates Garlinghouse As Crypto’s Steve Jobs In an X post, Deaton stated that he thinks the Steve Jobs of