Solana (SOL 0.18%) has recently disappointed investors. It's down 1% over the last year (as of July 30), which looks particularly poor considering that crypto has been in a bull market. In fact, out of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, Solana has performed the worst over the last year.
But circumstances can change quickly in the crypto market, and Solana has a new use case that could help it rebound.
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Solana is a hotspot for tokenization
This year, Solana has seen rapid growth in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). These are crypto tokens on a blockchain that represent a physical asset or a financial instrument. For example, you can buy tokenized equities on Solana that are equivalent to stock shares. The selection of equities is a lot smaller than what you'd find in your brokerage account, at least for the time being. But you can invest in tokenized versions of dozens of companies, including Tesla, Palantir Technologies, and Nvidia.
The number of RWA holders on Solana has increased by 1,281% this year to nearly 63,000. Total RWA value has increased by 176% to $479 million, and Solana could be on the cusp of greater growth in this area.
BioSig Technologies recently announced it will invest as much as $1.1 billion in physical gold bullion for its treasury. It also plans to issue gold-backed crypto tokens using Solana. This could potentially triple Solana's RWA value and attract more users to its blockchain.
The early stages of tokenized RWAs
RWAs have just started taking off, but they have the potential to drastically increase the value locked onto blockchain ecosystems. Solana's speed and ultra-cheap transactions make it well suited for RWA applications. Despite Solana's lackluster performance over the last year, it's still an exciting cryptocurrency investment that may be poised for a big move.
