Layer-1 (L1) blockchain network Solana has seen a notable rise in user demand this April. This surge in activity is evident across key metrics, including a marked increase in the network’s daily transactions, fees, and revenue.
This has prompted a spike in the demand for SOL, pushing its price up 16% over the past 30 days. With the network showing no signs of slowing down, SOL could continue its upward trajectory in the short term.
Network Activity Explodes on Solana, Pushing SOL Price Up
The rise in Solana’s user activity this month is evident in its growing daily transaction count. According to data from Artemis, the network has processed over 99 million transactions since the beginning of April, representing a 12% month-over-month increase in daily transactions.
As a result of this increased user engagement, Solana’s network fees and the revenue generated from them have seen a notable uptick. According to Artemis, transaction fees on the network have surged by 35%, while revenue derived from these fees has climbed by 26% over the same period.
The surge in user activity across the Solana network has fueled demand for its native token, SOL. This is because, as more users interact with the L1, the need for SOL to facilitate transactions and pay network fees increases.
This has contributed to a double-digit price rally, with SOL climbing by over 16% in the past month. The price surge reflects growing investor confidence in the network and highlights the positive correlation between user activity and token value.
Hence, if user activity remains high on Solana, SOL could remain bullish into the new month.
Bullish Pressure Builds for SOL, but Drop to $120 Still in Play
On the daily chart, readings from SOL’s Directional Movement Index (DMI) confirm the buying pressure among its spot market participants. At press time, SOL’s positive directional index (+DI, blue line) rests above its negative directional index (-DI, orange line).
The DMI indicator measures the strength of an asset’s price trend. It consists of two lines: the +DI, which represents upward price movement, and the -DI, which means downward price movement.
As with SOL, when the +DI rests above the -DI, the market is bullish, with upward price movement dominating the market sentiment. If this persists, SOL could extend its rally and climb toward $171.88.
However, if Solana’s user activity wanes, impacting the demand for SOL, the coin’s price could shed recent gains, break below support at $142.59, and fall to $120.81.
Some altcoins are heating up as speculation swirls around TRUMP and its recently announced exclusive Gala Dinner and White House tour for the top 220 TRUMP holders, sparking a frenzy in the market.
While TRUMP has dominated headlines, several related and narrative-driven altcoins are also gaining traction and could see major moves in the lead-up to the event. Here are three altcoins to watch before Trump’s Gala Dinner: TRON (TRX), ConstitutionDAO’s PEOPLE token, and the Official Melania Meme (MELANIA).
According to Arkham Intelligence, a cold storage wallet associated with HTX—an exchange linked to Sun—has claimed the top spot on the official TRUMP leaderboard.
While the identity behind the wallet hasn’t been confirmed, the speculation alone has spotlighted TRUMP and Tron (TRX), potentially driving renewed interest and demand for the token.
If TRX catches momentum from this attention, it could break above key resistance levels at $0.249, $0.255, and $0.259. A strong rally could propel the price toward $0.30, possibly as high as $0.40—territory it hasn’t seen since December 3, 2024.
While the rumors remain unconfirmed, the narrative surrounding Sun’s potential involvement is already energizing the Tron ecosystem.
ConstitutionDAO (PEOPLE)
ConstitutionDAO was a short-lived but historic experiment in Web3 coordination. In November 2021, a group of crypto enthusiasts formed a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) with the ambitious goal of purchasing one of the original copies of the U.S. Constitution at a Sotheby’s auction.
With only 13 known physical copies, the event attracted massive public attention and intense bidding competition.
Although the DAO ultimately lost the auction and has since been dissolved, its native token, PEOPLE, remains active and continues to trade in the crypto market.
The token has recently formed golden crosses—a bullish technical signal that occurs when short-term moving averages cross above long-term ones—suggesting growing upside momentum.
If this strength continues, PEOPLE could be on track to test key resistance levels at $0.0174, $0.0193, and potentially even $0.0239.
Official Melania Meme (MELANIA)
MELANIA, the meme coin inspired by former First Lady Melania Trump, was launched just days after the TRUMP token and has remained closely tied to its narrative.
While MELANIA has seen a significant drop from its all-time high, it could benefit indirectly from the hype surrounding Donald Trump’s upcoming Gala Dinner for top TRUMP holders.
As attention builds around TRUMP and its community, spillover interest could reignite momentum for tokens like MELANIA, especially among traders chasing political meme coin trends.
For years, crypto in Africa was synonymous with Bitcoin (BTC). Today, that narrative has flipped, with companies like Yellow Card, a crypto exchange operating in Africa, clearly reflecting this shift.
In an exclusive with BeInCrypto, Yellow Card co-founder and CEO Chris Maurice reveals how it is building a pan-African stablecoin network to leapfrog traditional finance (TradFi). This is amid growing regulatory clarity, collapsing fiat systems, and a remittance revolution.
Stablecoins Are Transforming Africa’s Financial Scene
The pan-African exchange operates in over 20 markets, and Maurice says stablecoins now account for over 99% of its transactions. This makes Yellow Card a bellwether for what might be the most transformative trend in emerging markets finance.
“When we first launched Yellow Card in 2019, people were exclusively buying Bitcoin. Now, the most popular asset is Tether (USDT),” Maurice told BeInCrypto.
As it happened, necessity, not speculation, has driven this evolution. Africa leads the world in peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading volume. However, unlike global crypto hubs chasing volatile returns, Africans are choosing stablecoins out of financial survival.
Local currencies are eroding under inflationary pressure in countries like Nigeria, which ranks second globally in crypto adoption (per Chainalysis). Stablecoins offer a reliable store of value and seamless means of cross-border payments.
This is especially critical in a continent with $48 billion annual remittances and persistent banking limitations.
“Stablecoins are solving practical financial services challenges in Africa. People aren’t in love with the tech. They need faster, cheaper ways to move money to survive and thrive,” Maurice added.
Infrastructure Built for the Unbanked
Yellow Card has gone beyond trading services. Its infrastructure integrates mobile money systems (like M-Pesa in Kenya) and local fiat currencies such as the Nigerian naira and Ghanaian cedi. According to the firm’s CEO, this helps onboard users without bank accounts.
By managing compliance, currency exchange, and payments internally, the firm enables businesses to operate without battling unreliable local rails.
“Our mission is to let companies invest, hire, and grow in emerging markets without needing to stress over infrastructure. We’ve built the back office [meaning] cybersecurity, AML, [and] data protection, so they can focus on growth,” he articulated.
The Regulatory Dam Has Broken
Maurice also observed that African regulators kept crypto in limbo for years. In Yellow Card’s view, 2024 marked a tipping point.
“There is regulatory momentum in Africa that is only accelerating. The dam has broken,” he said.
South Africa now classifies crypto as a financial product. It has licensed major exchanges like Luno and VALR. Countries in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), Mauritius, Botswana, and Namibia have followed suit with licensing regimes.
Meanwhile, regulatory incubators are emerging in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Against this backdrop, Maurice says Yellow Card has actively helped draft legislation in Kenya and supports crypto frameworks in Morocco.
Fighting the Informal Market
Still, challenges remain. In countries like Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Morocco, outright bans have driven users underground into high-risk P2P networks. Yellow Card pushes for frameworks that level the playing field for compliant players.
“We face a lot of competition from companies that don’t maintain high AML standards…A level playing field is all we seek,” he said.
With $85 million in venture funding, Yellow Card is deploying capital into compliance and partnerships. With this, the company positions itself as the go-to infrastructure provider for global firms looking to tap African markets.
From Africa to Emerging Markets Everywhere
Cross-border payments are perhaps Yellow Card’s most powerful use case. The company’s co-founder says its stablecoin-powered rails are helping businesses reduce working capital needs, expand to new regions, and hire faster.
“We’ve had clients tell us we’ve enabled them to scale into new countries and reduce their costs dramatically. That’s real economic impact,” said Maurice.
The company is not stopping at Africa. Its infrastructure extends into other frontier markets, with a wave of strategic partnerships expected in 2025.
“Yellow Card has built a series of easy buttons for developed world companies to expand into complicated, high-growth markets,” he noted.
“Stablecoins are already a standard part of the financial infrastructure in Africa. CFOs and treasurers in traditional industries are now routinely using them to store and transfer value,” he added.
Africa’s crypto market is still small compared to global giants. Nevertheless, as the world shifts from speculation to utility, the continent’s fragmented financial systems may offer a glimpse into crypto’s most impactful use case: economic empowerment. For Yellow Card, the mission is clear and increasingly urgent.
“We’ve built a company for longevity and scale. Crypto adoption in Africa is stablecoin adoption,” Maurice concluded.
Welcome to the US Morning Crypto News Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.
Grab a coffee to see what experts think about the Ripple price given the growing approval odds for XRP ETF (exchange-traded funds) in the US. These financial instruments offer investors indirect exposure to crypto and progressively draw institutional players to the digital assets space.
Meanwhile, ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has appealed to Paul Atkins for hints about when the US SEC will approve the first spot XRP ETF, among other altcoin-based financial instruments.
He and his colleague, ETF analyst James Seyffart, remain optimistic that approving additional altcoin-related ETFs beyond Ethereum is only a matter of time.
“Would love to hear directly from Atkins, but all good chance of happening,” Balchunas posed.
Specifically, for them, XRP ETF holds an 85% chance of approval, placing it among the frontrunners for regulatory approval in 2025. Balchunas also shared a list outlining the approval probabilities for various spot crypto ETFs.
Bloomberg XRP ETF approval odds in 2025. Source: Balchunas on X
Meanwhile, Seyffart notes that delays in approval should not come as a surprise. He urges crypto market participants to hold out hope beyond October 2025 and year-end in the worst-case scenario.
“…Final deadlines for most of this stuff is in October 2025 or later,” Seyffart stated.
However, Balchunas acknowledges that Paul Atkins’s confirmation as the new SEC chair has set the ball rolling.
“…nothing was going to get approved until Atkins was confirmed…he just got confirmed and they’ve been taking outside meetings with people. Probably coming up with a strategy. After that, likely approvals,” Balchunas opined.
Crypto traders and investors would surely welcome more altcoin-based exchange-traded funds beyond the Ethereum ETF. Such financial instruments would give crypto more legitimacy, open the playing field for institutional participation, and, hence, increase liquidity.
A recent US Crypto News publication indicated growing adoption for BTC over gold, ascribing the traction to Bitcoin ETF inflows surging against lagging gold ETPs (exchange-traded products).
Despite the false claims, the approval of ProShares’ XRP futures ETF sparked optimism. Experts now predict that a spot XRP ETF could follow, potentially attracting $100 billion to the payments token.
“A spot XRP ETF could be next, unlocking real demand and sending prices soaring. $100 billion+ could soon flood into XRP,” wrote industry expert Armando Pantoja.
