Solana (SOL +1.49%) set a record high of $295 on Jan. 18, 2025. That marked a near-190% gain over its previous 12 months. But as of this writing, the token trades at about $73. Let's see why Solana soared, why it pulled back, and where it could head over the next three years.
What happened to Solana?
Like Ethereum (ETH +1.60%), Solana is a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain that supports staking (locking tokens to earn rewards) and smart contracts (for developing decentralized apps). However, Solana's Layer-1 (L1) blockchain is much faster than Ethereum's L1 blockchain because it integrates its own proof-of-history (PoH) mechanism, which timestamps transactions before they're validated, into its PoS consensus mechanism.
Image source: Getty Images.
Ethereum remains the world's largest developer-oriented PoS blockchain, but Solana has become the second-largest one and is gaining new developers at a faster rate. Solana also processed more transactions than Ethereum in the first quarter of 2026.
In 2024 and 2025, Solana soared as Circle, Visa, PayPal, Stripe, and other payment companies used its speedy blockchain to settle their stablecoin transfers. More financial institutions also tokenized their assets on Solana's blockchain. The launch of the TRUMP (TRUMP +0.94%) coin on its blockchain was the final catalyst that drove it to its all-time high last January. But over the past year, Solana pulled back amid fears of interest rate hikes and a security breach this April, spooking its investors.
CRYPTO: SOL
Key Data Points
Where will Solana go over the next three years?
Solana's decline was disappointing, but it still has more irons in the fire than other altcoins. If the Senate finally passes the CLARITY Act for cryptocurrencies -- and sets clear guidelines for stablecoins and tokenized assets -- Solana's price should stabilize.
Solana also recently gained a vote of confidence from Moody's, which directly integrated its credit ratings into Solana's blockchain to cover tokenized bonds and fixed-income securities. Its upcoming Alpenglow upgrade in the second half of 2026 will further boost its network speeds and widen its moat against Ethereum and other PoS blockchains.
As those catalysts kick in, Solana's spot ETFs -- which the SEC approved in late 2025 -- should attract more retail and institutional investors. Bitcoin's (BTC +1.69%) next halving cycle in 2028 should also draw more investors back to the chilly cryptocurrency market.
Based on these facts, I believe Solana will bottom out this year and gradually recover over the next three years. It probably won't set a new record high, but it should become more widely recognized as a resilient blue chip token alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum.
