Solana is the absolute king of comebacks. It still amazes me how this team made the turnaround. In December 2023, was down to $8. This year, it already hit $200. It has an ATH of $260 in May 2021. Its current price is closing in on $180. I can see Solana hit new ATHs during this bull run.
This also means that the Solana ecosystem is doing well. If ETFs get approved, I don’t need to tell you the skyrocketing growth we will see. So, I’m going to take a look at some top Solana projects. Come and join me.
1) Pyth Network ($PYTH)
My first pick is the Pyth Network. Currently, Pyth is the fastest-growing Oracle network. Oracles are crucial for the crypto sector. As you may know, blockchains can’t communicate with the real world. That’s where oracles come to the rescue. They can feed blockchains with real-world data.
These can range from crypto or currency prices to sports results or weather forecasts. You name it, or oracles can provide the related information to a blockchain. Now, Pyth provides real-time market or financial data.
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Currently, it services over 50 different blockchains. This includes, for example, crypto, equities, FX, and commodities. This includes large exchanges like Jane Street, CBOE, Binance, OKX, or Bybit. It also offers some stunning data. This includes, for instance:
- 450+ data feeds.
- 300+ apps.
- 50+ blockchains.
- 90+ million daily updates.
What sets Pyth apart from other oracles is their update frequency. It updates prices of +200k per day. To clarify, that’s every 400 milliseconds. This allows for smart contracts to operate precisely and securely. Among its data providers, you can find:
- Crypto exchanges like Binance, OKX, or Wintermute.
- TradFi exchanges like CBOE Global Markets, IMC, or Jane Street.
- Trading firms like Tower Research Capital.
- Financial services providers like Flow Traders.
- DEXes like Orca, Raydium, or 0x.
Apps can use all these Oracle data. The network has its native $PYTH token. This launched in November 2023.
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During the TGE, there was also a massive airdrop. 15% of the $PYTH token unlocked. On 20th May, we saw a second and even bigger token unlock event. 2.13 billion $PYTH will hit the market. For the short term, this may affect the $PYTH token price, but for the long term, it should be fine. After the unlock event, there was a price drop to $0.38 from $0.44. The current $PYTH price is $0.47.
2) Raydium ($RAY)
Raydium is an AMM or Automated Market Maker. It uses a central limit order book. It’s currently already in V3. Using a central limit order book is what sets Raydium apart. Here are some advantages when using Raydium. For example:
- Fast and cheap — Solana is a fast and scalable chain. It also offers low transaction fees.
- It offers a central order book — This has ecosystem-wide liquidity.
- Trading UI — You can use TradingView charts or set limit orders.
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Raydium offers various features. These include, for instance:
- Trading and swapping — Swaps are fast and offer limited orders.
- Earning trading fees — In case you provide liquidity in a Raydium pool, you can earn trading fees.
- Earn $RAY — You can earn $RAY by framing a liquidity pool or stakes $RAY. The current APR for staking is 5.94%.
Raydium was first built by Serum DEX. It offered faster and cheaper transactions compared to Ethereum. However, after FTX imploded in November 2022, Serum became defunct. It lost its biggest backers. From there on, Raydium kept going on under its own steam.
Raydium did this with great success. As already mentioned, it’s now already in V3. According to DeFiLlama, it has $917 million in TVL. That makes it the fifth biggest DeFi protocol on Solana measured by TVL.
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The current $RAY price is $1.78. It has a market cap of $469 million. Almost 50% of its tokens are unlocked. The $RAY ATH was in September 2021 at $16.83. So, it’s 89.8% down from this. On the other side, over last year, $RAY is up by 699%.
3) Solana NFTs
I find myself back here at Solana NFTs. There’s too much going on here to mention only one project. So, my team and I came up with the top Solana project and some lesser-known but good projects. Solana is the second chain in the NFT rankings for all-time volume. It’s behind Ethereum.
The current top Solana NFT collection is Mad Lads. It’s a 10k NFT collection. current floor is 67.22 SOL, or a good $11k. mint date was 20th April 2023, for 6.9 SOL. Its ATH was at 229.4 SOL in December 2023. Within a week after mint, 1 Mad Lads NFT sold for 3625 SOL or $74.7k.
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It was also the first xNFT collection. These NFTs have code that gives holders ownership rights over its execution. There’s of course, Drip Haus. Here you can subscribe to artists and collect their NFTs in various rarities. It’s a thriving hub for NFT art collectors and joining is highly recommended. Discover artists like Degen PoetCity of GirlsNo Face-No Case
A lesser-known but interesting collection is Bored Ape Solana C lub Their current floor is 3.01 SOL. That’s up by more than 1 SOL in only 3 weeks. Their ATH was at 10.3 SOL in September 2023. Nonetheless, this is a very active project. There’s already a V2 collection as well. You can also stake your Solana Bored Apes.
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This wraps up my Top Solana ecosystem projects. Let me know in the comments if I mentioned your favorite Solana project. If not, let me know what your favorite project is. And, are you still into
