Source: Cointelegraph
Original: “ETF Approval Will Help Solana Break the 'Meme Chain' Narrative”
Author's View: Chris Chung, CEO of Titan
When Solana was launched in 2020, its co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko envisioned a grand goal: to create a Nasdaq on the blockchain—becoming the center of on-chain financial markets. Five years later, the trading activity we see on Solana resembles “penny stocks” more than tech giants like Apple and Nvidia that are part of the Nasdaq. There are indeed “blue-chip” tokens like Jupiter (JUP) or Drift (DRIFT), but the market's focus has always been on meme coins.
In fact, the connection between meme coins and Solana has become so tight that some industry insiders simply refer to it as the “meme chain.” This is not surprising: Solana's Pump.fun meme coin issuance platform has created over 7.5 million tokens since its launch, generating over $550 million in revenue.
This is a significant boon for the Solana ecosystem, driving infrastructure upgrades and attracting a large number of new users, but Solana's potential goes far beyond meme coins. Now is the time for Solana to become a more serious blockchain, and the approval of Solana (SOL) exchange-traded funds (ETFs)—which seems almost certain this year—will be a key catalyst in helping Solana establish a public image of being “much more than a meme chain.”
Support from the SEC
Last year, many did not think this was possible, but now the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems ready to push for the launch of Solana ETFs by 2025. Under new leadership, the agency has first accepted Grayscale's application for a SOL ETF and is now seeking public comments on four Solana investment products.
Given that former President Donald Trump chose Solana as the issuance platform for his viral meme coin “TRUMP,” this trend is not surprising. However, the significance of the ETF goes far beyond a single token, as it will propel Solana into the realm of traditional finance. The probability of approval is also high: traders on Polymarket currently give a fall approval probability of up to 85%.
The approval of the ETF is crucial for changing institutional investors' perceptions of Solana, as it provides a regulated channel for investors to access SOL assets without the risks associated with holding coins on-chain.
A Symbol of Trust
The significance of the ETF also lies in its ability to significantly enhance the credibility of any crypto asset in the traditional financial sector. We have already seen this shift in sentiment, as global top asset management firm Franklin Templeton has launched a U.S. Treasury money market fund on Solana.
This move is significant as it acknowledges Solana's essential positioning: a serious blockchain that supports large-scale transactions and real-world applications. One of the key application scenarios this year will be payments and remittances.
Payments may not be as eye-catching as meme coins. However, looking back at the release of the Bitcoin white paper in 2008, payments were indeed the initial application scenario for blockchain. Its pseudonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, explicitly positioned Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer cash system.
However, since then, the application of blockchain in the payment field has remained very limited. As of 2022, only 0.2% of e-commerce merchants globally accepted cryptocurrency payments—far from a global payment network.
A $20 Trillion Opportunity
But the opportunity is enormous. This year, the payment industry's scale is expected to reach $20.37 trillion, six times the current total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies ($3.23 trillion). We have also seen signs of the increasing importance of digital assets in the payment field.
For example, payment giant PayPal has launched its own stablecoin, PayPalUSD (PYUSD), officially entering the crypto space. Meanwhile, Trump's social media company TruthSocial is exploring a crypto payment service called TruthFi. Elon Musk's X platform also plans to start accepting cryptocurrency payments through its newly launched XPayments feature. It seems that these “boring but necessary” crypto payment scenarios are finally about to explode.
Solana has a strong leading advantage in this transformation. It has a large and active user base, and in January alone, its stablecoin supply doubled to nearly $12 billion. More importantly, it has withstood the test of the TRUMP meme coin craze earlier this year, with the system performing robustly.
Additionally, Solana has the infrastructure to support a retail payment network. It has low transaction costs and fast speeds, and its payment protocol, SolanaPay, allows users to make payments using cryptocurrencies, including USD Coin (USDC), simply by scanning a code—providing all the key elements for a seamless e-commerce experience.
Towards a Mature Blockchain
Payments are just the starting point. Yakovenko's vision of “Nasdaq on the blockchain” is even grander—a high-performance blockchain that can support large-scale financial application scenarios, from complex trading strategies to crypto lending. Throughout 2024, Solana has been continuously improving the relevant infrastructure—driven by the excitement of Pump.fun, the system has been upgraded and optimized, preparing it for mass adoption. The approval of the ETF will help Solana completely shed its reputation as a “meme coin chain.” It has all the potential to achieve its goals—the only thing missing is institutional trust.
Breaking free from dependence on meme coin trading will also make Solana more resilient in the face of the next market downturn. Five years have passed, and Yakovenko's vision is finally within reach.
Author's View: Chris Chung, Co-founder and CEO of Titan
Related: NFT Founder Accused of Stealing Millions from Bitcoin (BTC) Project
This article is for general reference only and does not constitute legal or investment advice. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position or views of Cointelegraph.
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