As of Wednesday, Oct. 7, which was a rough day for the cryptocurrency complex notwithstanding, Solana (SOL -0.19%) has been on a tear of late.
Even with the Oct. 7 pullback, the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL -0.53%), the largest exchange-traded fund (ETF) dedicated to the seventh-largest digital currency by market cap, is up 49.3% over the past 90 days. It's no wonder investors are enthusiastic about this $1.3 billion ETF, which offers a net staking reward rate of 5.4%.
Solana could be a crypto star in 2027. Image source: Getty Images.
Of course, the road to crypto success is often bumpy. Still, with Solana's supply tightening and its blockchain network on the cusp of an important speed upgrade, this cryptocurrency and funds such as the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF are worth examining as 2027 approaches.
Why Solana could be super in 2027
Standard Chartered estimates that Solana can reach $250 before the end of this year, implying that the digital asset will more than double in less than three months. To be sure, that's an ambitious projection and one that may not prove accurate, but there are reasons to believe Solana is shaping up to be a 2027 crypto star and one of the asset class's long-term winners.
Potentially boding well for the cryptocurrency and the Bitwise ETF, Solana could be one of the digital assets most likely to appreciate by 10x (or more) by 2030. That's another ambitious forecast, but even if Solana "just" triples or quadruples over the next several years, investors are likely to be happy.
Of course, big rallies have to start sometime, so why not now or before the end of this year? That's a possibility, and some of that is attributable to Solana's relationship with Bitcoin (BTC +0.24%), the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
NYSEMKT: BSOL
Key Data Points
As has been widely lamented, Bitcoin moves in four-year cycles, and history suggests that the current cycle is poised to end sometime this month. If history repeats, Bitcoin could be poised for a new bull market lasting into the next halving in 2028. That's pertinent to investors who are considering Solana or the Bitwise ETF because Solana's two-year correlation to Bitcoin is 0.77, and Solana is more volatile than its larger counterpart, so its percentage moves (upside and downside) are often deeper.
Fabulous fundamental factors...maybe
At the fundamental level, there are multiple moving parts to the Solana thesis, so in the interest of simplicity and time, I'm boiling things down to two marquee factors investors will want to watch in the coming months: institutional adoption and the possibility that a new "meme coin spring" is upon us.
There's already evidence that major financial services firms are using the Solana network for some forms of lending and tokenization. If that trend expands, it could further validate Solana, potentially stoking increased ETF inflows in the process.
As for the wild card of meme coin sentiment, if that enthusiasm is rekindled in earnest, it could lift Solana, as launchpads such as Pump.fun contribute to network turnover and revenue. So investors can benefit from meme coin exuberance without owning those assets directly.
