Crypto investors have two basic choices right now: invest in high-priced cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC 0.40%) and Ethereum (ETH 0.11%), or drop all the way down to the bargain-priced cryptos trading for less than $2.
But don't sleep on the midrange of the crypto market, where you can find a surprising number of attractive investment options. One of the best right now is Solana (SOL 0.94%), which is trading at a 60% discount from its all-time high earlier this year. Solana should be a $300 cryptocurrency, but it's trading for about $125 right now.
Explosive upside potential
The first thing you need to know about Solana is that it has explosive upside potential. After launching in early 2020, Solana has turned in four years of absolutely blistering returns. The big year was 2021, when Solana skyrocketed by 11,171%. In 2023, Solana soared by 919%.
CRYPTO: SOL
Key Data Points
Solana also is highly volatile. You can't count on it to churn out consistent returns year after year. In 2022, for example, Solana lost 94% of its value. This year, despite the pro-crypto euphoria that dominated the investment narrative, Solana is down 35%. It's now badly underperforming the market bellwether Bitcoin, which is down 6% in 2025.
The next Ethereum?
There's a good reason Solana has displayed such explosive upside potential in the past. Almost immediately after launching, it was tagged as a potential Ethereum killer.
Both Solana and Ethereum are Layer 1 blockchain networks with smart contract functionality. That makes them key building blocks for everything that gets built in the blockchain and crypto business.
There's one big difference, though: Solana is blazingly fast. Its blockchain puts the transaction processing speeds of Ethereum to shame. Solana recently demonstrated the ability to process 1 million transactions per second. By way of comparison, the core Ethereum blockchain was only able to process 15 to 30 transactions per second until a recent tech upgrade in early December.
Image source: Getty Images.
So you can understand why high-profile crypto investors, including Cathie Wood of Ark Invest, have talked up the disruptive potential of Solana. That potential is particularly impressive within the area of decentralized finance (DeFi), where speed is everything. Not surprisingly, crypto traders are increasingly migrating to Solana from Ethereum for the higher speeds and lower costs.
According to a recent research report from 21Shares, Solana is much further along at this point of its development than Ethereum was during its early years. During the most recent 12-month period, the Solana blockchain ecosystem generated nearly $3 billion in revenue. While much of that revenue is a result of increased crypto trading activity, it is also coming from a surprising number of diversified sources, including artificial intelligence (AI).
The new Solana ETFs
What makes Solana particularly attractive right now is the recent launch of new spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that do nothing except invest in Solana. They give investors exposure to the spot price of Solana, without all the risk of investing directly in crypto. Many of these are now available via traditional brokerage accounts, and are sure to attract new retail and institutional investors to Solana.
These ETFs come with competitive fee structures and are priced at less than $100 right now. From my perspective, the best of these ETFs are those that give investors exposure to the price of Solana, while also offering passive income via staking rewards, which holders can earn by locking up their coins and validating transactions on the network. Over the long haul, these ETFs should provide higher upside potential than those that simply track the price of Solana.
NYSEMKT: BSOL
Key Data Points
Thus, crypto investors have two basic options right now. They can invest in Solana directly via the crypto market. Or they can invest indirectly, via the new Solana ETFs that track the price of Solana and provide staking rewards as well. One of the best of these is the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL 0.51%), which is trading for just $17 right now.
Caveats for Solana investors
Just keep in mind: Solana has been a historically volatile cryptocurrency. In 2022, investors got absolutely wiped out when Solana lost 94% of its value. At the time, many worried that the price of Solana might drop all the way to zero.
As 2025 wraps up, Solana has been trending down, due to fears that it might have too much exposure to the meme coin ecosystem. All of that new trading volume on the Solana blockchain? Most of it is just retail money speculating on meme coins. And now there are concerns that Solana might face legal risk as a result of its relationship with meme coin powerhouse Pump.fun.
If you're comfortable taking on that risk, though, Solana might be the best $100 investment you ever make. As noted earlier: In four of the past six years, Solana has soared by 86% or higher. That's why I'm counting on a return to form in 2026. If all goes according to plan, Solana could easily double in value next year.
